In the Military Brigades, there was this general rule of thumb that, when in battle, any form of assistance was welcome.
As such, when the Mechanical Titan crashed into the party to provide support to the Elite Garrison Squad who were defending Eren's Titan body, Ian found himself feeling beyond relieved, especially when it dealt with the Ten metre class Titan that he and Mitabi were struggling with.
"You said something about it not providing assistance to us, did you not?" inquired Ian, his tone just a little sarcastic as the Mechanical Titan stood up from its formerly kneeling position, with the bloodied and mangled form of the Ten metre beneath it. Mitabi himself didn't have an answer for his Captain as he shuddered at the sight of the massive 'Titan' now standing before them, with him gulping as it turned to fix its green eyes on them.
It kept eye contact for less than a second before turning towards a pack of inbound Titans, and upon seeing their approach, Ian couldn't help but grimace whilst Mitabi sighed in apparent relief; ally or not, being so close to such a monster made his skin crawl!
"Weren't the others meant to lure them to the corners of Trost…?" muttered Ian, with his confusion very much apparent as he said this. Mitabi was quick to notice this, though, as he took stock of how more Titans than initially expected were making their way towards them, and after looking around for a moment, Dietrich's gaze fell upon Eren's limp, useless form, with him deepening his scowl momentarily all the while. "It has to be Eren… they seem to be attracted to him for reasons unknown…"
"Tsk, I still can't believe we're actually risking our lives for that brat…" mumbled Mitabi, only to be cut off when the sound of gears turning and pistons shifting could be heard, prompting them to turn towards the Mechanical Titan and widen their eyes when they saw it crouch down low.
And, within a blink of an eye, it sprung itself forward, sprinting towards the inbound pack of Titans with such speed that was seemingly impossible for something of its size. The sudden movement caused some dust to be kicked up, and to that, both Ian and Mitabi had to shield their eyes to avoid being blinded.
"Well, if it's any form of consensus for you, Mitabi, then it should be comforting to know that we're not doing this alone," pointed out Ian as the Mechanical Titan charged straight into the pack, with its first target, a Ten metre, being annihilated the moment the much larger 'Titan' slammed into it. "Kh… change of plans, Mitabi! We'll circle around the vicinity and clear out any and all Titans that are out of the Mechanical Titan's line of sight! For now, we can rely on it as our Vanguard!"
"To rely on a Titan once more, are you certain of this, Ian? You do recall what happened the last time we did that, yeah?" scoffed Mitabi, only to be cut off when the head of a Titan flew over them, landing on the ground behind him with a loud thump. As he watched it dissolve, Ian had to suppress a shudder as Mitabi gulped at the sight; beheading a Titan was one thing, but to behead it with such force that it came soaring over here was something else entirely!
"Between you and me, Mitabi… I'd reckon that we can rely on this Titan more than we can Eren," muttered Ian semi-sarcastically as Mitabi sighed at his words. He wasn't about to agree, but even so… he couldn't find himself disagreeing either…
"You have a point there…" admitted Mitabi with a scowl, and as he said this, Ian turned and stared in Mikasa's general direction. He pursed his lips enviously when he saw her slice the nape of a Twelve metre with very little effort, though he quickly shook it off and responded to his teammate.
"Spread out and inform the others about this new development. I doubt it'll be necessary, considering…" a pause as the Mechanical Titan… dropkicked a Titan into a pack of several others, downing them all like they were damn bowling pins. "... that, but it's better to be safe than sorry, yeah?"
"Yeah, I gotcha. Happy hunting, Ian," huffed Mitabi as he sprung off to do as he were told, and as he left, Ian turned towards the Mechanical Titan one last time with his eyes narrowed and his mouth cast into a singular straight line.
'Just what exactly do you wish to accomplish, Titan?'
When he had first gotten here, one of the first things that Mikazuki had taken stock off was the slumped over form of what appeared to be Eren Jaeger's Titan body, with both hands and his face smoking.
The fallen Titan… er… Titan Shifter? Yeah… Titan Shifter, Barbatos found that classification to be accurate enough! The Titan Shifter was slouched over with his back against a massive boulder, presumably the one that was intended to be used to seal the breach, and it didn't take long for the pilot to realize that something had definitely gone wrong with the plan, though that in itself was rather obvious, considering that Yellow Flare that had been shot moments prior.
Via Barbatos' internal scanners, Mikazuki was informed of how Eren seemed to be in an odd state of dormancy. How it determined this was… a mystery, to say the least, but even so, Mika was able to determine that, at the very least, Eren wasn't regenerating any of his injuries at the moment, and because of this, he wouldn't be standing until further notice, which more or less doomed this whole plan to use him to lift the boulder over to the breach from the get go.
Or rather… it would've… were it not for the mere existence of both himself and his Gundam.
Despite its damages, Mikazuki knew that Barbatos was more than capable of lifting the boulder and sealing the breach on its own, something that his Gundam, somewhat pridefully via the Alaya-Vijnana system, confirmed. But even so… whilst he could very easily do such a thing, the amount of approaching Titans had set him on edge.
'Twenty Titans coming at us from all sides within a fifty metre radius,' thought Mikazuki, with him bringing a hand forwards to rub it against the radar system. Narrowing his eyes at this, Mikazuki's gaze darted around the battlefield, with him acknowledging how several of the soldiers still present were doing their best to keep the Titans away… including his three friends. 'More will come in due time, even if these Titans are dealt with…'
"..."
'I can't protect my friends and carry the boulder at the same time, Barbatos.'
"...!"
'... choose? Very well… then I choose to do THIS!'
And right as he thought those words, Mikazuki turned and swung the sharp digits of his Gundam towards the neck of an encroaching Titan. Upon doing so, the claw-like digits of his unit more or less beheaded the Titan within a second, and upon doing this, Barbatos kicked at the Titan, sending it skidding backwards into a small, Three metre Titan before its back impacted a building, crushing the Three metre in between both and killing it in an instant.
Turning towards his next target, Mikazuki had his unit grab a Fifteen metre by the shoulder before plunging Barbatos' manipulator into its stomach. Once it was in, Mika fired off an Autocannon shot, in turn causing the Titan to explode from the inside and slather the general area they were in in a mess of blood and guts.
Out of the corner of the heads up display of the cockpit, Mikazuki noticed that a Titan had somehow managed to slip by the Gundam's radar rushing at it. Turning Barbatos around on its heel, Mika was ready to deal with it, posthaste, though before he could do so, a newcomer swiftly swung by and dispatched it for him, slicing into its nape with pinpoint accuracy before she landed on a nearby building.
As soon as she landed, Mikasa Ackerman turned to fix Barbatos with a rather harsh glare, one that Mikazuki simply raised a brow at. Not long thereafter, though, she broke eye contact with the Gundam and turned towards a close by Three metre and swung towards it. As she drew closer towards it, the young woman swung sharply to the left as it swung its hand out towards her, only to swing to the right, towards the Titan's hand… and sever it at the wrist with seemingly no issue, and thereafter, she boosted past the Titan's head and swung in to strike at its nape, hitting it with the force of a freight train and killing it in an instant.
Landing atop a building in the thereafter, Mikasa frowned as a Thirteen metre approached her from the sides. Gripping her blades tightly, the young woman got ready to launch herself at it, though she stopped in her tracks when a pair of soldiers struck the approaching Titan's nape simultaneously. The combined slash was enough to compensate for their lackluster swing power, and the result was a dead Titan that fell onto its side as the newcomers landed in front of Ackerman.
"Mikasa!" greeted one of the two, whom Mikazuki immediately identified as Mina, who smiled as she saluted with her blade the moment they landed. Beside her was Nac, who nodded and smiled at the high ranking 104th Graduate, who simply responded with a mild nod of her own.
"Mina, Nac. Thanks for the assist," thanked Mikasa as Mikazuki snorted and elbowed an inbound Titan that attempted to sneak up on Barbatos. The impact was strong enough to cave in the front of its face and caused it to stagger back, with Barbatos ready to deliver a finishing blow via a stab to the neck with the Longsword, though before he could, a blur whizzed by the back of its neck and finished the job for him.
Said blur landed on the closest building, revealing itself to be none other than Annie Leonhardt, who wiped the dissolving blood off her cheek as she glanced towards the Gundam. Mikazuki noticed just a little bit of unease in her eyes as she locked her gaze onto the optics of his unit, not that it was completely unwarranted, of course, though she quickly shook it off and turned towards the other soldiers, with Nac in particular seeming somewhat mortified by his friend's actions.
"Annie! We were meant to eliminate all Titans that got past the Mechanical Titan, not help it directly on the front lines!" scolded Nac from the backlines, only for Annie to roll her eyes and nod dismissively. And, rather surprisingly, that was enough to make Mikazuki himself roll his in amusement. It was rare to see Annie this proactive, and he had to admit, even in their current situation, and also in spite of his usual stoic self, the pilot did find some amusement in seeing his blonde friend be more active on the field.
Said amusement was replaced with irritation, though, when Mikazuki saw a Titan charge towards Annie from behind, and likewise, Annie, alongside most of the other soldiers present, saw it as well. Reassuming an offensive stance, Leonhardt found herself ready to counterattack as she waited for the perfect moment to move…
… though moments later…
BOOM!
… Annie found herself widening her eyes in shock when, without warning, Barbatos' Longsword flew into the fray and embedded itself into the lunging Titan's body, and on impact, it created a powerful shockwave that sent Annie flying. The blonde was caught off guard by this as she gasped and was sent skywards, though before she could land on her unprotected rear, the blonde felt someone, or something, snatch her out of the air.
At first, she had thought it to be either Mina or Nac, though that thought was made void when she realized how… cold and hard the thing that caught her was, and at that, she realized that the Mechanical Titan was that which had caught her, and she reddened with apparent insult and horror as she stared up at the thing in silence.
Nothing much was said as she watched the 'Titan' place her down onto the nearest building, extremely gently, no less, and as it did so, it turned back towards the Titan that had lunged at her in the first place. Neutrally, it marched towards the Titan, which was now stuck by the side of a building, pinned down by its Sword, and ripped its weapon out of its body, and upon doing so, it swung its blade at the Titan's neck, beheading it and causing a minor shockwave that cleaved another building behind it in two.
'Such power…' thought Annie as she watched the Mechanical Titan lower its sword wielding hand, and as it did so, Mina and Nac both landed next to their blonde friend, with the former sheathing her blades so that she could check Leonhardt for potential injuries whilst the latter began berating her for being so unfocused on the battlefield… a somewhat hypocritical thing for Nac, of all people to be scolding someone over, but still a valid nonetheless, and in spite of her usually stoic self, the blonde did at least find some decency within her to least appear sheepish whilst being berated.
Despite him being quite a dramatic person from time to time, Nac kept Annie's scolding short and sweet, most likely due to the situation they were currently in, and Leonhardt had just enough decency in her to at least listen, and once that was all said and done, they all turned to glance at the Mechanical Titan, who was, in turn, staring back at them with its blank, metal face.
Before long, however, eye contact was broken when it turned and headed back to combat, leaving behind a bewildered Annie, Mina and Nac, with the latter clearing his throat after a short amount of time.
"It might just be me… but do any of you think that the Mechanical Titan seems keen on sticking close to us in particular?" inquired Nac, having thought of that on the spot as Annie gave him a bewildered look.
"Probably, though it could be coincidental as well… unless…" muttered Mina, with her rubbing at her chin thoughtfully as she considered her next few words, only to snort a tiny bit as she shook her head and waved her hands at her friends, who gave her some confused looks all the while. "N-Nevermind! Let's just… continue on, alright? We have more important things to worry about, after all!"
And to that, the two simply nodded and moved on with their duties, much to Mina's relief as she followed them into the fray. What she was about to say would've been rather stupid, in her opinion, and honestly, she was glad that neither of her friends had pushed her into speaking what she had on her mind initially.
After all, the theory she had behind Mikazuki being like Eren and having transformed into the Mechanical Titan was plain ridiculous, and it was also completely baseless and stupid! There was no way that it was legit… right?
Right?
"Achoo!"
"...?"
"No, I don't have any allergies, Barbatos."
"..."
Things were really heating up, and it was something that Mikazuki was reluctant to admit, even as he wiped at his nose and maneuvered Barbatos around the battlefield with just a bit more agency.
The Titans were acting much more aggressively than they have ever been prior, and although he was initially confused by this, Barbatos posited a reasoning behind the ever growing aggression of their adversaries; Eren Jaeger.
Ever since that Titan Shifter had stepped onto the field, the Titans had been attacking everyone present with greater ferocity than Mikazuki had ever witnessed prior and while it was still easy to mop the floor with these pests, the increased amount that had gathered made it hard to keep them all back, and seeing as how he was having problems with this whole debacle, Mika could only imagine how the normal soldiers present were handling this!
Key of these soldiers were the few that were actively assisting him in battle, namely his three friends, Mina, Nac and Annie, plus several others, such as Rico Brzenska and, occasionally, Mikasa Ackerman. In truth, their assistance was honestly kind of unnecessary, considering how Barbatos was already mopping the floor with these vermin, but all the same, to their credit, they were doing quite a damn good job at providing him with some decent backup!
The increased volume of Titans made it harder and harder to keep them back; for every Titan that was downed, at least one more, or perhaps even two, would arrive to replace it, something that necessitated an increased level of aggression from both Mikazuki and the soldiers present as they forcefully pushed their adversaries back.
"Weren't the others meant to lure the Titans to the corner?!" proclaimed Nac as he kicked off the nape of a Titan and launched himself into the air, twisting his body immensely to avoid the grasp of another, which was swiftly dispatched by Annie as she darted past the back of its neck, slicing into it in an instant.
"They're clearly not doing a good job," spat Annie as she flung herself back into the air, grimacing as she landed onto another building with a roll. Turning to the side, she took note of a pack of approaching Titans ranging from Thirteen to Five metres, seeming ready to jump into the fray, though before she could, Mikazuki had Barbatos charge in without a second thought.
An uppercut sent a Titan soaring into the air and obliterated its lower jaw, and whilst it was still airborne, Barbatos pummeled a Twelve metre over the head, striking it with such force that the unit's manipulator found itself buried in its chest. Whilst it ripped its manipulator out of the Titan's chest, the Gundam promptly stomped on a Five metre, and as soon as it was confirmed to be nothing more than a fine red pool of dissolving Titan mush, the unit swung its Wrench Mace towards the Titan it had uppercutted into the air.
The Wrench Mace struck the Titan's back, liquifying it on impact and sending its limbs flying in all directions. One unfortunate Titan was unlucky enough to be struck in the eye by an arm that was sent towards it, with the limb burying itself in its bulbous eye socket and causing it to spin around via the momentum of the impact, opening it up for a killing blow courtesy of Mikasa, who swung in and slashed at the nape as it writhed in apparent agony.
"Such raw strength which could only be topped by the Colossal Titan… what exactly are you…?" mumbled Mikasa, with her question being easily picked up on via Barbatos' audio receptors as she swung off. The pilot, in apparent response to that question, simply huffed in amusement.
'You'll get your answer soon enough. If you survive this ordeal, anyways…'
The arrival of a soldier had gotten Ian's attention, prompting him to turn away from the dissolving corpse of a Titan that he had just downed as he fixed his gaze on the newcomer. He knew that several soldiers had been dispatched to help fill in their ranks after Rico had fired that flare, though to his knowledge, they had all arrived already… so who was this newcomer?
Their blonde hair and feminine face despite being a guy was more than enough to answer Ian's question, and as soon as he recognised him, Ian visibly flinched and took a step towards the guy.
"Armin Arlert!" proclaimed Ian right as Armin landed on the ground, not too far from Eren, wincing a little on impact as he stood himself up and turned to stare up at his senior, who continued speaking with a rather worried tone. "You were not meant to be a part of the soldiers who were sent to reinforce our ranks! Fall back, now!"
"Captain Ian!" responded Armin, his tone reflecting his dire expression as he glanced over at Eren's still slumped over form, nearly motionless as he leaned against the boulder. The blonde winced at that sight, though it didn't stop him from continuing. "What happened to Eren, or the plan for that matter?!"
"The plan has failed!" answered Ian as he glanced over at an approaching Thirteen metre who had its attention held by Mitabi. "Eren Jaeger is not in control of his Titan self! It attempted to kill Mikasa Ackerman during the start of this operation, and by all accounts, he is a traitor in the eyes of the military! Be that as it may, however, Eren is too valuable an asset to leave behind, and as such, we are holding the Titans back until he emerges…"
Ian noticeably trailed off at that, though Armin didn't need a reason as to why, as, between the still smoking stumps that were his hands and the smoking mess that was his face, he could piece together the reason without aid.
'He's not going to emerge anytime soon. And at this rate…' thought Armin, wincing as he heard a loud crash in the distance, followed by smoke rising in the air. Turning towards it, he winced when he saw that the smoke was in close proximity to the Mechanical Titan, who had its attention fixed on an inbound pack of Titans. "Even with the Mechanical Titan providing assistance, we'll be overruned in no time!'
A quick glance towards Eren made Armin raise a brow thoughtfully.
'Eren… is he the reason why they're more aggressive all of a sudden…?' thought Armin as he rubbed his cheek, only to be shaken out of it when the body of a Titan was thrown over his head and sent crashing into one that was sneaking up on Ian. The shockwave riled up the Garrison Elite, though he remained atop the building he was on as he grimaced.
"Armin Arlert, retreat, NOW!" commanded Ian, his voice firmer than it was before as he grimaced at the Cadet. His tone of voice was enough to tell Armin that he was leaving no room for an argument, and yet, he did not heed his command. Instead, he turned towards Eren's slumped over form and made a beeline for it, much to Ian's dismay. "ARMIN ARLERT!"
No response. In fact, Armin had barely heard Ian, and for all intents and purposes, Dietrich's voice may as well have been nonexistent, as the young soldier blocked out everything as he did his best to remember one specific detail.
'When he emerged from the Titan, Eren came out from the back of the head across to the nape of the neck…' reminisced Armin as he swung himself up to Eren's unconscious form, ignoring Ian, who was racing after him with the intent of stopping him from doing anything stupid. He was too late, however, as by the time he got down to ground level, Arlert was already latched onto the back of Jaeger's Titan form, with one of his Anti-Titan blades unsheathed all the while.
"ARMIN ARLERT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" proclaimed Ian.
"Approximately one metre high and ten centimeters across…" muttered Armin as he aimed his blade, blocking out Ian's yells for him to stop, though he did at the very least offer some words of assurance before he did what he did. "Captain Ian, I'll get Eren out of here! You and the others just focus on keeping the Titans away!"
With those words uttered, Armin uncertainty raised his Anti-Titan blade, shuddering as he took aim with his blade…
"So long as I miss the center, he'll be fine…! It'll just… hurt a little!"
… and plunged it deep into his best friend's nape.
The close-by roar of a Titan was so loud that Mikazuki could hear it from even within his Gundam's cockpit, nevermind its high powered audio receptors, which glitched out a tiny bit as it picked up on the yell.
Likewise, Mina, Nac, Annie and Mikasa also caught wind of it, as evident by how they turned towards its source alongside the pilot and his unit. The first to react to it beyond turning and staring was Mikasa, who widened her eyes and sprung into action, with Mina and Nac following suit soon after to investigate the source of the roar. Annie only followed after she gave Barbatos a parting glare, one that made Mikazuki raise a brow as he turned back towards a pack of approaching Titans.
Frowning towards them, Mikazuki narrowed his eyes as he considered boosting after them, though a few dots on the unit's radar system stopped him from doing so; he still needed to keep these Titans away, and with a sigh, rather than pursue his friends, Mika instead turned towards the Titans that were closest to his unit and boosted towards them instead.
It took Barbatos all of five seconds before it appeared directly in front of the first Titan to be taken down by it. Without wasting even a second, the Gundam lashed its manipulator out and grabbed onto the Titan's head, and, holding onto it firmly, Mikazuki had his unit slam the Titan's head into the ground before dragging it against the concrete, tearing its back apart as it created a small crevasse beneath it, before he abruptly halted and flung the downed Titan at another one of its own, with the impact being more than enough to kill both in an instant.
Another Titan was dispatched when Mika launched his unit's foot towards its neck, and as it drew close to the Titan's neck, claws unfurled from the base of the unit's foot before snagging themselves onto the Titan's neck. And, with a strong squeeze, they crushed the Titan's neck with minimal recourse, and, for added measure, Mika had Barbatos slam its foot down and crush what was left of the neck, and he snorted when he acknowledged that it was well and truly dead thereafter.
Not wasting any time, Mikazuki took stock of an inbound group of Titans that were lumbering towards Eren's general direction via the unit's radar. Snorting at that, the pilot turned his unit and grabbed the closest Titan by the head and hoisted it up above its head. Ignoring its attempts at freeing itself, Mika quickly got a good angle before he had Barbatos toss the Titan towards the incoming pack, either killing or knocking over those who were hit by it.
'Hmph…' grumbled Mikazuki as he ran a quick scan of the general area around him; he was quick to grimace upon doing so, however, as the pilot realized that there were a multitude of Titans that had somehow managed to give him the slip whilst he was focused on the others. Five were able to get past him without much hassle, and upon acknowledging this…
"..."
'Shut up, Barbatos…'
… and after dealing with some of Barbatos' artificial snark, Mikazuki boosted his unit in to intercept the Titans that had given him the slip.
"ARMIN?!"
That was the first word that left Mikasa's lips as soon as she and her fellow soldiers landed on the building closest to Eren's body, with Ackerman rushing towards the edge when she noticed her brother's Titan form convulse violently. Armin himself was latched onto it with his maneuver gear and Anti-Titan blade that was stabbed into its nape, and he held on tight in an effort to keep himself from being flung off.
"Armin, what are you doing?!" demanded Mina, effectively voicing out what everyone present was thinking as she stared at Eren with wide eyed shocked. She would've spoken more, but the loud roar of Eren's Titan form, alongside his wild thrashing, stopped her from doing so.
"Stop what you're doing at once!" proclaimed Mikasa as she stepped forward just a little, only to recoil back a little as Eren's arm slammed into the ground, causing some dirt to be flung into the air all the while. "You're being reckless!"
"Don't worry about me, Mikasa!" assured Armin, flashing the smallest of smiles as he latched onto Eren's convulsing form, only for his expression to grow serious once more as Eren continued thrashing around, much to his dismay. "All of you, there are lives that you can help save! Leave Eren to me and go!"
"But-" began Mikasa, only to silence herself when a small handful of Titans could be seen in the distance. Grimacing to herself, she and her fellow soldiers held onto their blades tightly as she reluctantly relented. "I…"
A gentle hand eventually found its way onto her shoulder, causing Mikasa to tense a little before she turned to see Nac smiling lightly at her. The smile he had was noticeably frail, though it was also rather reassuring as he nodded firmly at his ally.
"Have faith in him, Mikasa… Armin's not failed us yet," muttered Nac with a confident nod. To that, Mikasa pursed her lips and turned to glance at Armin, who was focused almost entirely on Eren to notice their little conversation, before she bit her lower lip and reluctantly nodded, with her knowing that the blonde was the most qualified out of any of them at snapping Eren out of this.
"Fine… let's keep those Titans away while he does what needs to be done…" muttered Mikasa with a reluctant nod, only to widen her eyes when the head of a Titan crashed into a building not too far from where they stood.
"Or provide some small amount of help, at least," added Mina as she motioned towards the Mechanical Titan, which was doing most of the heavy work for them as it blazed a trail through the battlefield.
And to that, Mikasa simply nodded once more.
Jean Kirstein's team was in a rather tight spot, to say the least.
Acting as one of the few Vanguards for the Elite Team, they were tasked with luring the Titans towards the corners of Trost. However, due to some yet to be understood circumstances, the Titans seemed to be less than responsive to their efforts, with several of them even breaking off from the soldiers attempting to bait them away from the boulder and dashing off in the general direction of Eren and the Elite Team.
In response to that, several teams were hastily formed and dispatched to eliminate the Titans that ran loose. Jean's team in particular consisted of Marco Bolt, Connie Springer and Sasha Braus, a competent enough team to say the least, though they were lacking a little in cooperation, especially when it came to Sasha.
"Hey, did you guys hear that?!" proclaimed Connie, having overheard the roar of pain Eren let out not long ago, frowning as he turned towards its general direction. His response was a somewhat worried look from Sasha, who gave a twitchy frown as she nodded.
"Yeah… doesn't sound nice," muttered Sasha, flinching as a cloud of smoke was ejected into the air. "Oi, Jean, should we investigate?"
"We have a job to do, Sasha! We don't have time to investigate whatever that was!" was her immediate response from Jean, who motioned for them to close in on a close by Twelve metre Titan. The rest of his team reluctantly followed his orders and launched themselves towards it, frowning as it turned to fix its lifeless gaze on them.
"Ah…" mumbled Marco as he shuddered a little at the Titan, frowning as he evaded a swing from it. Connie did the same as well, though he didn't dodge as well, as his leg was clipped by the palm of the Titan, causing him to go a little out of control in the air before he rolled to a stop on the ground.
"Well fuck me sideways…" muttered Connie, only to widen his eyes when he saw the Titan gaze down upon him. With a somewhat girly shriek, Connie, fueled by some adrenaline spurred on by fear, was able to leap straight over the Titan's hand as it attempted to grab him before he began sprinting away. "YEAH FUCK ME SIDEWAYS TILL NEXT WEEK!"
As the Titan raised its hand to attempt to grab him once more, Sasha, after taking a moment to snort at Connie's rather amusing string of curses, swung in and sliced at the Twelve metre's wrist. The cut wasn't enough to slice the limb off, though it was more than enough to put the limb out of commission long enough for Connie to swing out of there.
Whilst the Titan stared at its now limp wrist, Jean and Marco teamed up and sliced the nape of the Titan at the same time, their combined strength being more than enough to kill it in one fell swoop. After being dispatched, the Titan fell forwards, crashing into the ground right as Springer landed onto the closest building.
"Thanks for that save, you guys!" thanked Connie, smiling as they nodded at him. And with that, the small group locked onto the closest Titan and got on with their assigned task. The four nodded to one another before they swung towards it, with Jean leading the charge.
The Titan they were approaching was a Ten metre, and it turned to face them right before Sasha could swing at its nape. Gasping as it rather abruptly turned to face her, Braus just barely managed to evade its jaws as she swung out of the way. At that, Jean grimaced.
"Marco, I hate to ask you to do this, but could you provide us with a distraction?" inquired Jean, to which Marco nodded and moved in front of the Ten metre, whose gaze was quickly caught by the freckled boy. With its eyes fixed squarely onto the guy, Kirstein made haste and swung towards its nape, having predicted a nice, clean swing at it as its attention remained on his friend.
And of course, the worst possible thing that could happen ended up happening right as he closed in on his target; his maneuver gear malfunctioned.
As soon as he was mere metres away from the Titan, the gas stopped passing through his gear, and as soon as he acknowledged that one awful fact, Jean found himself falling, with his formerly confident expression giving way to a terrified one. And right as that expression graced his face, the soldier found himself rolling onto the ground, only stopping when his back smacked against something strangely fleshy in texture…
… he was soon to realize that what he had smacked against was the ankle of the Ten metre Titan, and he eventually noticed that the Ten metre was now staring directly at him, prompting him to gulp in horror.
"Shit," was all he said before he stood up and bolted out of there, with the Ten metre charging after him as his teammates gasped in terror. "SHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT-"
"JEAN!" proclaimed Marco, swinging after his friend and the Ten metre that followed it. Sasha and Connie were quick to do the same, though they weren't able to get a clear shot at the nape at their current range.
"OF ALL THE FUCKING TIMES!" proclaimed Jean as he evaded to the left, in turn evading the Ten metre's hand as it attempted to snatch him up. As he did, he continuously pressed down on his maneuver gear controllers, desperately trying to get them to work once more, though he was quick to realize that wouldn't be happening anytime soon.
At the same time, Jean dived forwards to dodge another grab from the Titan, though before he could get up, the Titan was upon him, and he could only widen his eyes as he stared up in horror as it reached down to grab him.
"J-JEAN!" proclaimed Marco as he closed in on the Titan's nape, noticeably faster than Sasha and Connie, his tone reflecting his terror as the Ten metre reached down for his pal.
Right as he was roughly ten metres away from striking at its nape, however, a massive Sword flew by him and his fellow soldiers and buried itself in the Ten metre Titan's nape, with its size, weight and the momentum that came with it being thrown causing the Ten metre itself to be flung several metres to the side, with it subsequently crashing into a building seconds later…
… and moments later Jean could only watch in a mixture of terror, relief and utter shock when he stared up at the handle of the massive Longsword that was embedded into the side of a building, stabbed into both the structure and the Titan that had been killed by it all at once. The Titan was slowly beginning to dissolve as Jean stared at it, and moments later…
"W-What…?" muttered Jean as he stared at the Longsword incredulously, only to stiffen as he felt the ground below him quake rather intensely, and moments later, a massive metal hand reached out and yanked the weapon out of where it once was, and it didn't take long for everyone present to realize what had just saved Kirstein.
'This damn thing seems to know how to appear whenever it's most needed…' thought Jean, seeming somewhere between relieved and horrified as the Mechanical Titan held its Longsword tightly in its grasp, its bright green eyes staring down at him blankly. At this point, Kirstein wasn't sure if he preferred this blank, robotic stare or the uncanny gaze of the average Titan anymore… but whatever the case, he was honestly just glad to be alive.
The momentary staring contest between Jean and the 'Titan' was eventually inturrupted, however, when Sasha yelped in warning, alerting them them to an inbound Titan all the while, and at that, the Mechanical Titan turned towards the Titan in question, a Thirteen metre, and let a small burst of steam expel from the apparent vents on its body, with the sudden cloud of smoke being more than enough to disorientate the soldiers present as they shielded their bodies with their arms.
Seconds later, the steam was dispelled when the 'Titan' swung its arm outwards and threw the Sword it had in its grip, and with nearly pinpoint accuracy, the sword managed to impale the Titan through the throat, with the blade emerging from the back of its neck as the Titan itself was sent flying backwards from the force behind the throw. That in itself was more than enough to kill the damn thing in an instant, something that shocked everyone present, to say the least.
Sure, they were all already aware of just how monstrously strong it was… but to actually see it firsthand… it always felt like a new experience, to say the least…
"Mah lord…" muttered Sasha in disbelief at how swiftly it had dispatched the Titan, shuddering at its strength as it turned back towards Jean. Connie himself was silent for a change, unsure on if he should even say anything, though Marco, the only one who was not shocked into silence, swung down to get Jean up to his feet, with his concern for his best friend being more than enough to override any of his self preservation drives.
"Come on, Jean!" urged Marco, getting his friend up to his feet as he smiled uncertainly. Jean, in response, blinked in confusion before he looked at the freckled young man, almost as though he was a complete stranger, though before long, the horse-faced soldier regained his senses and shook his head in dismay.
"M-Marco…" muttered Jean, regaining his senses as he stared up at his friend…
And meanwhile, Mikazuki simply observed that little interaction between Jean and Marco with no small amount of amusement, with him having been reminded of a handful of relationships back in Tekkadan all the while.
Actually, didn't Nac and Mylius share a similar relationship…? Probably… he never thought it wise to ask, seeing as how that was Tias' business and not his.
Regardless, though, the pilot was quick to shelve that thought when Barbatos warned him of a Titan charging straight at them, and with the greatest of ease, Mikazuki had his unit swing its arm unit out towards the approaching Titan, and in an instant, the Gundam backhand slapped the Titan in the cheek, with the force alone being more than enough to send the Titan's skull soaring through the air, leaving the headless body to fall onto the ground gracelessly.
Jean and the rest of his team were rightfully taken aback by how tough the Gundam was, and by all accounts, Mikazuki reckoned that was fair, considering how they were not around it long enough to have beared witness to the full extent of the brutality that his unit was capable of.
Either way, however, Mikazuki was quick to notice how Jean's equipment seemed to have been damaged, as pointed out by Barbatos, which made use of its optical sensors to alert its pilot to a busted component near the thruster of Kirstein's Maneuver Gear. Noticing this made Mika huff; the soldiers standing before him were good, but even so, their assistance was no longer needed down here, seeing as how they were meant to act as bait… bait that was no longer working, evidently enough, and seeing as how their de-facto leader was out of commission, it was best if they retreated immediately.
And, seeing as how he had no real way to communicate this to them verbally, Mikazuki made use of the second best option he had on the table… and made Barbatos point up towards the top of Trost.
At first, his fellow 104th graduates were dumbstruck by that gesture, seeming rather taken aback that Barbatos was able to do anything beyond mindlessly killing other Titans. They knew it was intellegent, sure… but you tended to forget about the finer details when you were in the heat of combat. Out of the four of them, Marco seemed to understand what Mikazuki was trying to relay to them, as he pursed his lips and nodded towards Jean.
"We're getting you out of the battlefield, Jean, or at the very least getting you a new set of equipment! A temporary withdrawal!" informed Marco who, without even wasting a second, scooped Jean up into his arms in an almost bridal like fashion, much to his chagrin. Mikazuki himself was surprised that Marco was even able to do that, though he was quickly reminded that he was part of the Top Ten 104th Graduates for a reason. "Sasha, Connie, you two coming with?"
"Erm, yea, Ah'm with ya!" was Sasha's immediate response, her eyes fixed squarely on Barbatos as she spoke. Her fear of the unit was very apparent, so much so that her Dauper accent slipped out without her knowing, though considering their current dilemma, no one was willing to comment on it.
"Same!" was the only thing Connie blurted out, and with the other half of his team all agreeing on their temporary retreat, Marco nodded in satisfaction before he led them towards Trost, with Mikazuki watching as they left, somewhat relieved to know that no Titans had intercepted them along the way.
And right as they disappeared from view, a somewhat familiar roar was picked up by Barbatos' audio receptors. It was distinct enough for Mikazuki to recognise it almost immediately, though he wasn't able to see the source as he immediately picked up on several Titans approaching his general direction via his unit's radar. Seeing their approach only made Mika huff as he had his unit hold onto its Longsword tightly as he crouched his Gundam down low, ready to launch into battle all the while.
'About time you woke up, Eren,' was the only thing that Mika thought in acknowledgment of Eren Jaeger's awakening, and with that, he boosted his unit towards the closest Titan met it head on with all that he had.
This was a terrible situation indeed, and Rico had to bite her lower lip with enough force to draw blood in order to keep herself from breaking down.
As with Ian and Mitabi, Rico had received some backup in the form of several newly arrived soldiers to help fill her ranks. However, even with their increased numbers, the heightened aggression and sudden influx of Titans had thinned their reinforcements worryingly quickly, so much so that within the span of about thirty minutes, less than half of their reinforced ranks remained.
Out of the three teams present, Rico was an awfully good example of this, having gotten about ten soldiers to reinforce her numbers, and within the span of the past thirty minutes, she had lost eight of her teammates, with the ninth one currently being eaten right in front of her and her remaining teammate's eyes.
"C-Captain! We can't go on! It's just the two of us now!" proclaimed the last soldier who was with Rico, the terror very apparent in her voice as she watched the Titan before them bite the torso off their teammate. Her response was rather quick, with Rico speaking through grit teeth.
"Fall back to the boulder for now!" commanded Brzenska, and they did as such, evading several Titans along the way. As they fell back, Rico took a moment to lament the loss of her comrades. If she made it out, she would do her best to at least offer proper memorials to the fallen. However, she did also take a moment to acknowledge just how… vulnerable they had become without the Mechanical Titan constantly providing assistance.
Sure, it was able to keep the Titans away, though as powerful as it was, it was still just one entity. It couldn't be everywhere all at once, and as it defended one specific area, other areas began to crumble under the Titans relentless onslaught.
'I know it's foolish to rely on it so much… but it's our greatest asset in this battle,' thought Rico scornfully, grimacing as she spotted the Mechanical Titan out in the distance kick a Titan in the abdomen, with said kick ripping the Titan in half all the while.
"Captain Rico!" came the voice of a newcomer, prompting Rico to cut her thoughts short as she landed on a building, frowning as she glanced at the soldier that had called out to her, who landed in front of her before continuing. "A report from Captains Ian and Mitabi! We have Five Titans coming our way!"
"Five?!" proclaimed the last surviving member of Rico's team, her eyes wide as she yelled that out. "We won't be able to take them out! Not without that mechanical monstrosity helping at least!"
Opening her mouth to reply, Rico was about to make an attempt at calming her remaining teammate down, something that was rather ironic considering her current mental state, though she was swiftly cut short when she saw… something shifting in the background…
Something that made her widen her bespectacled eyes to their limits…
"H-Holy crap…" muttered Nac as he and Mina rushed towards the edge of the building they were on to catch a glimpse of the sight. Annie was quick to kick off the nape of the Titan she had dispatched and joined them, and in a rare show of emotion, she too widened her eyes in shock at what she was seeing.
"Armin… he … he actually did it…" added Annie, the surprise very apparent in her voice as she gained a newfound respect for Armin Arlert for being able to do what she considered to be close to impossible.
And meanwhile, Mina simply fistpumped as she grinned wildly.
"We're not losing this battle just yet!"
Atop the wall of Rose, the soldiers found themselves flabbergasted at the sight down below.
Jean Kirstein, Marco Bodt, Sasha Braus and Connie Springer, on the other hand, were able to hold back their shock, though this was mainly due to Kirstein rushing up to them, now equipped with a new set of equipment that would hopefully not break down in combat, and provide them with a new set of orders.
"Don't just stare! We have to get down there and help!"
And likewise, within the cockpit of his Gundam, Mikazuki couldn't resist offering the tiniest hints of a smile as he took in the sight set before him.
'Took you long enough to get your head back in the game… Eren.'
"Eren…"
That was the only word that could leave Mikasa's lips as she, Ian, Mitabi and the others who were brave enough to fight this far away from where they once were laid eyes upon the absurd sight before them.
Eren Jaeger… for as flawed as he was, could definitely make an impression, and at the moment, he was making a massive one as he held the boulder above his head and stomped towards the breach. The mere sight of this was enough to stun the soldiers who saw it into silence, having forgotten about their duties for a brief moment as they watched on.
"Mikasa!" came Armin's voice out of seemingly nowhere, prompting the young woman in question to snap out of her trance-like state and turn towards her blonde friend, who had landed not too far from Mikasa alongside Mina, Nac and Annie. The blonde sprinted towards the highest ranking present alongside the aforementioned trio, with a massive smile on his face as he got up to her.
And for the briefest of moments… Mikasa mirrored that expression with glee, though it quickly reverted back to her usual, neutral look as she watched Armin stop in front of her, exhausted but still very much alive.
"Armin! You did it!" proclaimed Mikasa, her voice a mixture of relief, pride and genuine happiness, something that did make the blonde's heart swell up with pride, though he shook it off as he nodded.
"Yeah, but it's not just me that managed it! Eren prevailed too! He pulled through!" proclaimed Armin, with his smile fading as he continued to speak more seriously. "He's trying to fulfill his duty once more! Now we just need to cover for him until he reaches the gate! And once he does…"
Glancing towards Eren as he spoke, Armin grit his teeth and finished what he was saying.
"Victory will be ours!"
And at that, a determined glint appeared in Ian's eyes. Turning towards the breach, he grimaced and narrowed his eyes before he grit his teeth, and seconds later, he issued his next command.
"DEFEND HIM!"
Those two words, as simple as they were, were bellowed with the tone of a true Captain, and all surviving soldiers present recoiled at the sheer determination behind them, and when he knew that he had their attention, Ian continued to give out his orders.
"I do not care if we have that mechanical monstrosity's help or not! Even if it will cost us our lives…" continued Ian, grimacing as he turned and pointed his blade at the Five Titans that were approaching them, with said Titans now moving towards Eren as he stomped towards the breach, with several more following them as time went by. "WE MUST DEFEND EREN UNTIL HE REACHES THAT GATE!"
And with those words uttered, his soldiers all yelled out in unison, a thunderous warcry that was quickly followed up by them swinging off to dispatch or distract the Titans. Ian, before he left, offered some parting words to Ackerman and Arlert.
"Stick with Eren, you two. Defend him!" advised Ian as he and Mitabi left to perform their duties. "Leave the Titans to us!"
And as he rushed off, Annie followed suit and sprinted past Mikasa, not wishing to be held back any longer, not when their victory was so close to being achieved, and jumped into the fray. Mina did so as well, though she did offer Mikasa and Armin what she had hoped would not be her final thumbs up, and Nac had placed a hand on Ackerman's shoulder before he left for combat.
"Protect your brother, Mikasa. You too, Armin. We'll be in touch!" urged Nac, eliciting a nod from Mikasa as he leapt into the battlefield, and as he did so, the ravenette grit his teeth and twirled his blades expertly in his hands. "Alright… it's payback time!"
Fifty metres…
Ian calculated that Eren would need roughly two minutes to get to the breach at his current pace, and they needed to buy the kid as much time as possible to do as such.
Swinging towards a small pack of Titans, Ian and two other soldiers attempted to get their attention using themselves as bait. To swing into such a densely packed group would be suicide, so he reckoned that just drawing their attention would be enough.
And yet… it didn't work! The Titans were all ignoring them, with all of them instead headed straight for Eren! As soon as he realized that, Ian and his men dropped down onto the closest building and grimaced. This wasn't good… if he couldn't lure the Titans away from them, then they'd have to chance it and swing in and strike at the pack, an incredibly risky thing to do…
"Captain!" proclaimed one of Ian's teammates, pointing down at something and snapping him out of his thoughts. With wide eyes, Ian turned towards what his junior was alerting him to, and at first, he saw nothing, though when he noticed what he was being alerted to, he was quick to widen his eyes further in shock.
"M-Mitabi?!" proclaimed Ian as soon as he spotted his fellow Garrison Elite sprinting at ground level alongside two of his men. He was quick to raise his voice and continue speaking to him incredulously. "What are you doing?!"
"These accursed Titans are all focused on that brat! So we'll just have to force them to pay attention to us in a more direct way!" responded Mitabi, grimacing as he and his teammates stopped behind the pack of Titans that Ian had attempted to lure away from Jaeger. It didn't take long for Dietrich to figure out what Mitabi was getting at, though he wasn't able to stop them from doing what one would consider to be suicide before one of Jarnarch's allies spoke up.
"Oi! You'd best pay attention to us, you wankers!" proclaimed one of Mitabi's teammates, with his fear apparent yet still hidden beneath his determination to see this mission through, with Mitabi himself adding on moments later.
"Yeah, or I'll have to jam my blade so far up your nonexistent asses that it emerges from your mouth!" added Mitabi, with his fear having added onto his skills at insulting as he yelled out at the Titans. However vulgar they were, their words seemed to do the trick, as within moments, the Titans they were trying to lure, a Ten and Twelve metre, turned and fixed their gaze on the trio, who gulped and began hightailing it out of there.
'They must see them as easier pickings than Eren now that they have their attention…' rationalised Ian as he grimaced. His teammates didn't like where this was going, and they noticeably tensed when Ian turned towards them.
"T-They're insane… without horses, going down there is suicide…" muttered a close by soldier as he landed on a building. Upon hearing him, Ian grimaced and stepped towards the edge of the building.
"Yes, but it is our best option…" muttered Ian. With the Mechanical Titan absent, this would be their best option at keeping the Titans away from Eren, and if forfeiting his life would lead to the recapture of Trost, then so be it. "Follow Team Mitabi's lead, all of you!"
And though he was horrified at what he had just told his allies to do, much less on what he himself was about to do, Ian did what he had ordered the others to do and leapt off the edge of the building, landing on the ground with a gentle thump before he began sprinting towards the Titans gathered before him. His teammates were understandably reluctant, though seeing as how this was for the greater good, they followed his lead with no small amount of reluctance.
'Forty metres… keep moving, Jaeger!' urged Ian in his mind as he halted in front of a trio of Titans, grimacing as he glared up at its back.
"Hey, you foul breathed primate! You'd best turn your attention towards us, or I'll make sure you'll never look at anything ever again!" spat Ian, the disdain making itself rather clear in his tone of voice. His insulting skills weren't the best, but either way, it had worked well enough as, upon hearing him, with both Titans turning towards him in a flash, something that made him make an expression that was somewhere between a grin and a scowl as he backed away from his adversaries. "We have their attention! Hold it for as long as possible!"
And at that, he lunged to the side to avoid one of the Titans as it lunged at them.
'Thirty five metres… hurry up, Jaeger!'
"Over here, you oversized lump of flesh!" proclaimed Nac, with him shaking in terror as a Five metre Titan turned towards him, smiling as it ran after him. To his side, Mina squeaked in terror whilst Annie grumbled at the sheer stupidity that came with following this risky plan before they made a break for it.
The trio had followed Ian's lead, though Annie was rightfully very reluctant to do so. If anything, she was only here to make sure that her two pals didn't get themselves killed in a flash, and that was evident as she tackled Mina off to the side, just barely evading the Five metre they were luring away as it lunged at them.
"Oof…! Thanks for the save, Ann!" thanked Mina with a gentle smile as Leonhardt quickly got off her pigtailed friend, only for the two of them to sprint off to the side as the Five metre recovered from its failed lunge.
"Thank me by staying alive!" responded Annie through grit teeth as they sprinted away from the Titan, with Nac being a little too preoccupied with keeping the attention of a Seven metre to provide them with any real help, leaving them to fend for themselves.
'Looks to be about Twenty Five metres before he reaches the breach. Hurry your ass up, Jaeger!' proclaimed Annie mentally as she stared back at the Five metre as it tripped on its own two feet. At that, Leonhardt couldn't help but snort as she calmed down just a little, only for her instincts to flare up as she turned to the side… and she was quick to widen her eyes when she noticed a Thirteen metre sprinting right at them.
Acting on instinct, Annie grit her teeth and turned towards Mina, and right as Mina noticed the look her blonde friend was giving her, she felt herself get shoved out of the way. And at that, time seemed to slow to a crawl as Carolina watched as a hand wrapped around Leonhardt's body, with her falling backwards all the while.
"ANNIE!" proclaimed Mina right as she rolled to a stop on the ground. She quickly right herself back up, however, and turned to stare at the Thirteen metre, who was laying on its side and staring at its prey, namely Annie, who was struggling violently in its hand.
Without wasting a second, the Thirteen metre brought Annie up to its mouth and dropped her in, though as it did so, the damn thing didn't notice Mina getting up onto her feet and sprint towards its general direction.
In an instant, Mina had swung herself up into the air, and all the while, she readily ignored all of her self preservation instincts as she launched herself directly at the Titan's face.
So this was probably how her friend had felt in his final moments…
Rather desperately, Annie attempted to grab onto something that would keep her from falling down the Titan's throat. The tongue was the best option, though it was too slick with saliva for her to get a grasp on it, but even so, she grit her teeth with determination as she tried to get a hold of it.
'I refuse to die a dog's death!' thought Annie with immense determination as she stabbed her Anti-Titan blade into the Titan's tongue, rooting her on the spot, though the sudden convulsing of the Titan in response to the stab was enough to snap the blade, and upon it breaking, Annie grimaced as she once attempted to force herself out of the Titan's mouth to no avail.
Yet another sudden jostle of the Titan was enough to make her falter for a brief moment as she slid further into its jaws, though Annie was not willing to give in as she struggled to get herself out, though she only slid deeper into the Titan's mouth in spite of her best efforts.
And suddenly, its mouth sprung open, and Annie widened her eyes when the light hit them, and they widened further when she saw Mina forcing the mouth of the Titan open with a terribly determined expression.
"M-Mina…?!" proclaimed Annie, shocked at the sudden strength that Mina was displaying. However, her shock was quickly overridden when Mina grimaced and reached in with her free hand and seized Annie's wrist.
"You're… not dying!" proclaimed Mina desperately as she pulled on Annie, doing her best to pull her friend out. In turn, Annie did her best to pull herself free, though the saliva of the Titan made it harder than necessary to do so.
A yell of pain from Mina made it apparent to Annie that her friend was unable to hold the Titan's jaw open any longer, and she was quick to grimace as she glared at Carolina with a horrified look. "MINA! GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!"
"NOT WITHOUT YOU, DAMMIT!" was her immediate response as Mina pulled harder on her wrist, with her ignoring the pain she was going through as Annie stared in utter shock. She had never seen Mina this determined before…
Her shock was quickly replaced by dread when she saw the Titan reach a hand up to perhaps shove Mina into its mouth alongside Annie, and she was about to yell out about it. And yet, before she could do so, the hand was quickly severed by a newcomer, and within a second, Captain Ian Dietrich appeared beside Mina.
With a determined expression, he helped Mina force the Titan's jaws open and reached forward with his free arm to grab onto Annie's wrist. And, before either of them could process his sudden arrivement, Ian, mustering all the strength he had in his upper body, yanked Annie out of the Titan's mouth and slammed her into Mina, in turn throwing the both of them out of the Titan's jaws.
Both young women landed on the ground, hard, and whilst Annie coughed and hacked at the sudden intake of fresh air, the pigtailed soldier was quick to smile in relief when she realized that Leonhardt was fine in the loosest sense of the word, though her relief was quick to fade when she noticed that Ian was still clinging onto the Titan's mouth, seeming unable to pull back as he shot Mina and Annie a parting glance.
"G-Good luck out there, soldiers!" proclaimed Ian as Mina and Annie got up to their feet and got ready to perhaps help him before he could be taken out of commission; the latter owed it to him for this, after all, and by God, he was not going to let him die like this, especially after he had saved both her and her friend in such a pathetic manner!
And right before it could end for the Garrison Elite… a massive shadow loomed over the Titan that was slowly shutting its jaws down onto him, and within a moment's notice, the tip of a blade tore through the nape of the Titan and emerged from its chest, and as soon as it did, the Titan jerked forward, with its mouth being forced open as well, in turn causing Ian to be ejected from it in an instant.
Ian himself was still conscious as he landed on the ground, coughing a little as he held his arm and regained his marbles, unsure of what the Hell just happened. He was dead, was he not? Then if so… why…
His answer came in the form of a somewhat nervous chuckle from Mina, prompting him to turn towards her with a questioning gaze, though he was quick to turn back to the Titan that had almost ended his life, and he was quick to widen his eyes in shock when he saw it be chucked off to the side with little to no effort.
And meanwhile, Annie couldn't help but allow a choked laugh to escape her lips as Mina knelt down and held her pained abdomen, injured but still very much alive and, for all it was worth, she had a fierce grin etched onto her features as she stared up at their newly arrived backup.
'This damn thing sure knows how to show up whenever convenient, huh?'
Rico couldn't help but grimace as the Twelve metre approached her. Glancing past it, she saw that Eren was perhaps Twenty metres away from the breach, and him making progress was enough to give Brzenska a boost of confidence as she glared at the Titan before her.
"Come and get me, you overly tall sonova bitch!" spat Rico, showing her below average insult skills as the Titan lunged at her. Grimacing as she dodged to the side, Rico leapt away from its grasp and used her arms to flip herself around onto her feet, with her acrobatically evading the Titan with little to no problems.
Upon recovering from her evasive maneuver, Rico grimaced and turned towards the Titan that had lunged at her initially, only for her to widen her bespectacled eyes when she saw its hand emerge from where it had landed at in a gamble to grab her. Acting on instinct, Brzenska managed to dodge it, albeit just barely… though before she could do anything else, something came down upon the Titan's arm.
Or more specifically, the white and red foot of a somewhat familiar-by-now 'Titan' slammed down onto the Titan's arm, crushing it with a single go. The shockwave that came with the strike was immense, though Rico was able to stay upright in spite of that as she shielded her eyes from the aftershock of the hit, and she was quick to lower her arms and widen her eyes when she spotted the one who had provided her with an assist in the first place.
Were she anyone else, Rico would've felt horror at the sight of their newly arrived reinforcements, but as things were now, she simply smiled tiredly before sighing.
"Figures…" muttered Rico, sounding somewhere between relieved and exhausted as she stared up at the Mechanical Titan. The damn thing didn't seem to notice her, however, as it simply raised its foot before slamming it back down onto the Titan's nape, killing it almost immediately.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" proclaimed a close by soldier who somehow didn't know of the Mechanical Titan, and he shrieked in terror as the Titan boosted towards him, though he eventually regained composure after the damn thing hovered straight over him and grabbed a Three metre Titan that was approaching him off the ground.
The mechanical monstrosity took less than a second before it threw the Three metre straight at the breach in Trost, and the makeshift Titan turned projectile was sturdy enough to knock back several Titans before they entered the breach. Hell, the damn thing tore a hole through the abdomen of the first Titan it came into contact with!
That display was enough to make Rico and her fellow soldier gulp at its show of strength, though they quickly got over it and went on with their duty, with the former's chest feeling just a tiny bit lighter, now that they had some proper firepower on their side to fend off the Titans.
And as for the latter… well, he kinda just rolled with it at this point. He wasn't going to deny assistance, sure, but this felt very much out of his league, to say the least.
'Fifteen metres!'
With that thought in mind, Mitabi dodged as a Five Titan attempted to snag him, and he was quick to take a swing at its wrist. The subsequent strike was average at best, though it was able to give it a deep enough cut that caused the Titan to recoil in pain. As it dids, Mitabi took the opening as a chance to sprint away, only to frown as the Titan quickly recovered and attempted to chase him once more.
Raising a brow, Mitabi grimaced when he saw another Titan, a Twelve metre, sprint towards him from the left. However, an idea was quick to pop up in his mind as he quickened his pace. Narrowing his eyes, the Elite was quick to widen them when the Twelve metre lunged at him, and at that, Mitabi himself lunged forward as well.
And all that ended with the Twelve metre crashing straight into the Five metre that was chasing him, though not long thereafter, the former Titan got up, ignoring how it had all but crushed the latter beneath it, with its grin still present as it rose to its feet and prepared to make another attempt at the Elite's life.
Before it could do so, however, a fellow soldier flew past and severed the nape, killing it in one fell swoop. As the Twelve metre face planted onto the ground, the soldier that killed it circled back around and landed on the ground, with him rolling to a stop and revealing himself to be Nac, who quickly got up and waved his Anti-Titan blade at Mitabi, who mirrored the gesture with appreciation
"Thanks for the save, kid!" proclaimed Mitabi, to which Nac replied with a nod; he felt rather nice after receiving the Elite's praise!.
Rather quickly, though, their moment was interrupted when the body of a Titan was sent crashing into a building that stood between them, prompting both to gasp in shock as they turned towards the demolished structure. In a shocking twist of fate, the Titan that was thrown into it was still alive in spite of how beaten up it looked, prompting both Mitabi and Nac to go on guard as it glanced at the latter.
Before it could make a move, however, a white blur boosted in and slammed the snout of its damaged weapon into the Titan, crushing it with the greatest of ease and causing both soldiers to wince and back up in shock. A massive amount of dust and smoke was kicked up at that, though it took less than a few seconds to settle, and by then, both Mitabi could only stare at the thing that had finished off the Twelve metre with his mouth agape.
Meanwhile, Nac couldn't help but smirk as he glanced at its green eyes with relief, and moments later, he threw his fist up into the air and whooped with reinvigorated glee.
"Hell yeah! Now we're talkin'!"
'Ten metres! Come on, Eren, you're almost there!'
And as soon as he thought that, Armin gasped as a Titan seized his smaller in comparison body. However, before it could even do anything to him, Mikasa leapt up and, with a precise yet strong swing of both her blades, she sliced the Titan's entire hand off and freed her blonde friend from his predicament, and moments later, the ravenette swung in and snatched him out of the air before he could hit the ground.
"Thanks, Mikasa!" thanked Armin, to which Mikasa nodded before throwing the blonde back into the field as another Titan attempted to close in on them. Arlert and Ackerman boosted in opposite directions as it dove towards them ,with them planning to strike at the Titan from both sides, though before that could happen, a newcomer swung in and finished off the damn thing for them.
Boosting down low, the newcomer bolted in with the speed of a careening bullet, weaving between the Titan's legs before launching herself upwards and slashing vertically at the Titan's nape. The strike cleaved straight through the thing's nape, killing it in an instant, before the Titan was sent staggering forwards, dead.
Upon seeing this, Armin and Mikasa both landed atop a building, with the newcomer doing the same moments thereafter. Upon landing, she revealed herself to be Annie, who nodded at her comrades before she turned to stared at Eren closing in on the breach, frowning deeply for some unknown reason as she did. Strange, though Armin didn't think much about it as he approached her.
"Thanks for that, Annie!" piped up Armin, wanting to place a hand on Annie's shoulder, only to stop when he realized that she was covered in saliva. "Annie, what-"
"Shut up and continue doing your job, Armin," was all Annie bothered to say as Armin nodded uncertainly, only to gasp as a nearby Titan was pinned the the ground by a Longsword, with it stabbing deep into its chest and causing it to skid along the ground like a ragdoll.
As it skidded to a halt, however, a massive Mace-like weapon came crashing down upon it, accompanied by a massive looming entity that crushed the Titan beneath it. Nothing was left of the Titan after the newcomer had landed atop it, and moments later, their reinforcements sprung out of the smokescreen and lashed out at a lunging Titan.
Using its Longsword, the Mechanical Titan jabbed at the lunging Titan and stabbed it through the mouth with its weapon. Like a hot knife through butter, the weapon embedded itself straight through its throat, though the strike didn't kill the Titan, per say, as it was left flailing about as the much larger 'Titan' held it aloft via its Sword, and as it did so, it turned the smaller Titan towards a close-by pack of Titans before kicking it towards them.
Said kick was immensely powerful, to say the least, as it sent the ensnared Titan soaring towards the close-by pack with startling swiftness, and on impact, the pack of Titans were knocked over like bowling pins, with at least half of their numbers having been killed on impact, no less!
"The Mechanical Titan… it… i-it's helping us again!" proclaimed Armin in relief, with him allowing a smile to grace his features as Annie nodded whilst Mikasa hummed softly in acknowledgement. As he said this, the 'Titan' in stood and allowed a burst of steam to escape its vents as it 'sighed' at their current situation, and as it did so, Leonhardt stepped forwards and nudged Armin's arm with her elbow.
"No shit. Now get back to work," grumbled Annie in response, ignoring the growing terror in her stomach as she spared the Mechanical Titan wipe the floor with the Titans. Its movements, its brutality and above all else… its furiosity… it never ceased to shock the blonde, even now, as she watched it dart around the battlefield with seemingly no effort whatsoever…
For as many times as she had seen it in action, she couldn't stop fearing it. The damn thing was truly a horrific beast…
… or better yet, it was truly a Demon… one that was born almost exclusively to scorch the very earth it stood upon.
'Five metres.'
"BRACE!"
With narrowed eyes, Ian, Mina, Mikasa and Armin all worked in tandem with the Mechanical Titan, who was clearing a path for Eren as he stomped onwards.
Leaping up and over Eren's head, the Mechanical Titan slammed its Mace down upon a Titan that was attempting to leap towards the Shifter, and as it was crushed beneath its weapon, the 'Titan' jabbed its arm out and stabbed a Twelve metre through the throat, killing it in an instant.
Whilst its arm remained outstretched, however, Mikasa swung herself up and landed atop the Mechanical Titan's shoulder, and before it could even acknowledge her presence, Ackerman raced up the length of the 'Titan's' outstretched arm before she leapt off its wrist, aided by a powerful burst from her thrusters, and as she did this, she swung directly at another Titan directly in front of them and cleaved into its neck.
Mikasa, to put it simply, beheaded the Titan in one fell swoop, and as it fell to the ground, dead, the soldiers present all went on with their duties.
'Four meters.'
"Come on, you brat! Just a bit more!" roared Mitabi as he kicked off the nape of a downed Titan. As he did so, another made an attempt to grab at him, though Annie was quick to swing in and slice its fingers off, and as it stared down at its now fingerless hands, the Titan was unable to react fast enough when Rico swung in and sliced into its nape, killing it in one go.
At the same time, Mina and Nac both worked in tandem to bring down another Titan much closer to the breach, with the former holding the Titan's gaze whilst the latter swung around to dispatch it. Once he was certain that it wouldn't turn back to face him, Tias swung in and swung both his blades at the Titan's nape, though before it could connect, the Titan spun on its heel and grabbed onto him with no remorse.
"GEH!" groaned Nac as he struggled against the Titan, though his struggling didn't go very far as he wasn't exactly strong enough to pry himself free, though all the same…
'Three meters.'
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" yelled out Mina as she swung in and stabbed her Anti-Titan blade into the Titan's eye, disorientating it and causing it to stagger backwards all the while. Whilst staggering back, it unintentionally threw Nac in front of itself, sending him soaring skywards all the while, but even so, before he could hit the ground and become a red stain on the pavement, a mechanical appendage lashed out and caught him.
"W-Whoa…!" grunted out Nac as he acknowledged the sudden presence of the Mechanical Titan's hand beneath him, and upon realizing this, he glanced towards it with widened eyes. Vice versa, however, it didn't even acknowledge him (not directly, anyways, as its pilot did spot Nac through an auxiliary optical unit as he sighed at having caught him in time) as it pulled its arm back, and moments later…
… it threw Nac back towards the Titan that had caught him in the first place. Nac himself yelled out in horror as this happened, with his eyes widened in shock as he flew towards the Titan with worrying speed, though moments later, he recovered from his initial shock and disorientation and refocused his vision, and moments later…
SHNK!
… Nac swung his blades towards the Titan he was being thrown back at and cleaved straight through its neck. He didn't behead it, but even so, his attack was still enough to carve off a sizable chunk of the Titan's neck and nape, and upon seeing her friend do this, Mina, who had still been latched onto the Titan's face via her Anti-Titan blade, kicked off it and landed atop a nearby building.
"D-Damn… nice one, Nac!" yelled out Mina with an awkward smile, to which Nac nodded awkwardly; that was no doubt the best swing he had ever pulled off, but all the same.
"You should be thanking the 'Titan', really…" admitted Nac sheepishly as he pointed towards the Mechanical Titan, to which the pigtailed soldier shuddered lightly before turning towards the 'Titan' in question, who offered her a thumbs up before moving on with whatever it was trying to do, shocking Mina quite a bit in the process.
(Mikazuki would deny snickering when he saw that shocked look on his friend's face.)
'Two metres.'
"FINISH THIS, EREN!" proclaimed Armin as he landed on his feet alongside Rico, with the two having just teamed up to down a Fifteen metre. In the background, Annie slingshotted herself off the Mechanical Titan's shoulder before cleaving at a Fifteen metre's eyes, blinding it and allowing Ian to dispatch it with a strike to the nape.
As Ian boosted out of the way, however, Annie scowled when she realized that her gas canisters were slowly but surely dying out, as evident by how she had constantly dipped a fair bit whilst boosting through the air. Her movements were consequently sluggish thanks to this, and eventually, a Titan did make an attempt to exploit this as it leapt at her with its arm outstretched, but even so, before it could grab her…
BOOM!
… the Mechanical Titan lashed its arm out and promptly punched the smaller, organic Titan out of the air, shocking Annie as she widened her eyes at its unexpected appearance, and moments later, she found herself planting her feet atop the 'Titan's' blue chestplate. She would've kicked off it, though before she could do so, the Mechanical Titan brought its hand up and held it over her smaller frame, seemingly keeping her close to its chest all the while.
'What is it…?' thought Annie, only to be cut off when the Mechanical Titan leapt backwards, and as it did so…
'One metre…'
"GO, EREN!" bellowed out Mikasa as she kicked off the neck of a Twelve metre Titan that had attempted to stop her brother from finishing her duty.
And, with one final roar of victory, Eren Jaeger slammed the boulder straight into the breach of Trost, with the ensuing shockwave being enough to send those close to it flying off their feet. On the opposing end of the boulder, several Titans were knocked back by the aftershock, though that was of no concern to the soldiers, who all remained silent as they watched Eren stand victoriously over the now sealed breach.
Line break
And within the cockpit of Barbatos, Mikazuki leaned back on the pilot seat and sighed in relief.
Finally… this was all over… and the signal flare that Rico Brzenska fired up into the air confirmed that.
This was the first real victory for mankind, and for whatever reason, Mika couldn't help but feel a little proud for being a part of it.
"Orga Itsuka, it is a pleasure to see you once more."
As he said that, the man dressed in a dapper black suit lifted his hand up to pull the fancy gold mask off his face, revealing who he truly was. Orga required a moment to process that information as he leaned back in his chair, bewildered by the sudden turn of events as he made eye contact with none other than the Gjallarhorn Seven Star member, Mcgillis Fareed, one of the seven most politically powerful people alive.
"You told me that you were a part of Gjallarhorn, but I never thought you'd be a Seven Star member," admitted Orga, not knowing what else to say as Mcgillis Fareed smiled, placing his mask atop his desk as he nodded.
"I apologise for my deceit. It was necessary for me to conceal my true name from all, including you, whenever I travel abroad to make allies of… questionable origins," apologised Mcgillis, his smile as disarming as ever, though Orga didn't trust it. The blonde was always rather sly with his honeyed words, even before he revealed himself as Mcgillis, and if he were honest, Orga found himself trusting the guy even less now.
Even so, he wasn't one to throw a guest out, even if he really wanted to, and as such, he sighed.
"It's fine. Why exactly have you come here, anyways?" inquired Orga, frowning as he spoke. He had quite a lot of things to do today, a ton of paperwork and even more to come, no doubt, and he really wanted to make things quick.
"You always did enjoy getting right to the point, Orga. That's one of the reasons why I like you," replied Mcgillis, smiling as Orga narrowed his eyes at Fareed's honeyed words. Noticing that he probably wouldn't be able to maintain that tone of voice for long without irritating his alter ego's business partner, Mcgillis was quick to nod as he continued. "As such, I shall keep this as brief as I possibly can.
"Do you recall the Battle of Edmonton?"
And at that, Orga slammed the side of his fist against the table, standing up from his chair as he glared at Mcgillis, who, to his credit, remained passive.
The Battle of Edmonton was a major sore spot for Orga. It had been Tekkadan's first victory, their first job well done, and though it was a great thing for the company, for Orga himself, it was quite a massive loss.
Having lost Mikazuki on that day… he still hasn't gotten over it…
"You're skating on thin ice, Mcgillis Fareed," warned Orga as Mcgillis' smile faded, with his expression turning serious as he nodded, showing Orga that he knew that things could possibly end badly for him if he worded his next few lines incorrectly. And as such, he remained quiet for a short while to think of what to say next before continuing.
"Yes, but what if I told you that Mikazuki Augus is still alive?"