Attack On Titan: Wings Of Crystal
Chapter 28: Wings Vs Crystal
The Colossal, the Winged, and the Armoured Titans. The three terrifying enemies from the past have resurfaced and made their move. If driving humankind to extinction was indeed the all-consuming goal, then they've gone beyond the point of no return. Yet Lazarus and the others devote themselves to their cause because they are Warriors.
Consumed with despair and hatred for his former friend now turned enemy, Michael transforms into the Crystal Titan high up in the air and puts all of his weight into his hardened right fist, landing a devastating punch right into the Winged Titan's face, sending the two of them plummeting back down to the ground.
Before he could get any closer to the ground, The Winged Titan grabs a hold of the Crystal Titans' arm and uses its immense strength to spin him around and slam dunk Michael so hard that the impact caused a tremor that affected Eren and Reiner who were engaged in battle closer to the wall.
Reiner uses this distraction to charge tackle Eren and send him flying backwards with an uppercut to the jaw. Eren's body crashed through several trees, slowing his pace until he finally skidded to a halt.
The top half of the Colossal Titan was currently engaged in conflict with the rest of the Scouts. Steam continued to blast out of its body, keeping them at bay and protecting its nape.
Bertolt begins his first attack and swipes his gigantic right arm at the Scouts within range of his attack. Hange and the others immediately moved out of the way as the side of his hand impacted the wall, kicking up dust and chunks of rubble as it drags across it.
During the attack, an unlucky Scout wasn't fast enough to dodge it and was killed on contact with the boiling hot muscle. Ymir was still clutched in its left hand, completely oblivious to the events happening at this moment. She and the Scout were then devoured by the Colossal Titan and kept well out of their reach.
Armin, Christa, Sasha and the others were still processing the fact that the shy and not very talkative Bertolt Hoover was the very Titan that broke through the wall in the first place. Reiner and Lazarus, they kind of expected. But Bertolt never struck them as the type to do the awful things the Colossal Titan had done.
Hange looks up at the Colossal, then over at the Armoured throwing punches at Eren. Then she looks up at the Winged hovering in the air above the Crystal. She thinks back to all the times she and Lazarus had conversed, such as their first introduction after the battle of Trost, and then him saving her life when they tried to capture Annie. Seeing his face in her mind triggered an uncontrollable rage that started building up inside her. That boy looked her right in the eyes and managed to trick her into believing he could be trusted with her secrets. She's usually never fooled this easily, especially by a young cadet. Knowing she was bested by the leader of this band of monsters felt like her pride had been tarnished.
"Soldiers! Prepare to attack! The Colossal Titan doesn't walk away from this! He and the other two are the greatest threats to humanity! Swarm and terminate!" She ordered them intensely, burning off some of that rage in her words.
The Scouts fire off their anchors and begin to swarm around the Colossal Titan. To Bertolt, they were a bunch of annoying little bugs that were buzzing around him. It got so irritating that he couldn't resist the urge to swat them out of the air.
Unfortunately, his movements were too slow. Something the Scouts were aware of. His enormous size was all he had going for him. If he can't hit them, he sure as hell can't protect his nape in time.
Leading the charge, Hange zooms past Bertolt's incoming strikes and flies around his arm. Frustrated, he attempts to swing at them again, but it still yielded no results. The Scouts let this advantage go to their heads as they grew too cocky to foresee the Colossal Titans' greatest defence mechanism.
As they closed in on his nape, Bertolt unleashes a powerful blast of boiling steam, sending them flying backwards like a bunch of leaves caught up in an updraft.
Hange and her squad were forced to fall back as the steam began to increase in temperature and intensity. A few Scouts couldn't get clear in time and ended up succumbing to a most painful demise. Some of them were unfortunate enough to feel their blood boil and cook them from the inside until what remained of their skin was scorched.
Most of them, though they did survive, suffered severe third-degree burns on their hands and faces. Other soldiers quickly rush to their aid with cold water while the others who were lucky enough not to get burned observed the Colossal Titan from a safe distance.
Its body did not stop generating steam. To keep himself safe, Bertolt surrounded himself with a huge shield of hot steam. To make it last for as long as he can, he was forced to stand perfectly still and let his body slowly burn away. All he could do was wait for Lazarus to give him a new order.
At first, Armin assumed the Colossal Titan would vanish again like it did the last two times he saw it. But this time it was different. He knew instantly that he was maintaining his form to emit heat and probably buy his comrades more time to deal with their opponents. The steam blasts, despite their slowed down rate, were still strong enough to repel any of their rigs against them. Their only option now was to wait for an opening.
"Squads three and four, take position behind the target. Squad two will stay put here." Hange instructed. "How long he can act as a blast furnace remains to be seen. But he'll come out of there eventually. When he does, we'll rush the big bastard." She glances back at Armin and the other cadets. "Listen up, I want you to forget about taking them alive. Destroy them! No second thoughts!"
Armin and the others were shocked by Hange's order. Though killing them was the best call to ensure they were no longer a threat to humanity, a small part of them didn't want to kill them as they still held onto the illusion of them still being their friends.
Hange then takes squad one and leaps off the wall before any of them could object. With no way of them reaching the Colossal, their next option was to assist Eren against the Armoured. The Crystal and Winged Titans were too far away from the walls and battling out in a huge open terrain, so assisting Michael was out of the question. Though Hange had faith that Michael could defeat Lazarus. The Crystal Titan was one of the most powerful Titans she'd ever seen. If anyone could defeat him, it was Michael.
Far out in the open, the Crystal Titan was recovering after its intense fall from the sky. He looks up in anger at the Winged Titan who was just hovering in the air, well out of the reach of his crystal pillars.
The two of them stare deep into the eyes of the other, both unsure of what they should do next. Though Michael was blinded by hatred and wanted to kill his sworn enemy, a small part of him kept holding himself back. And Lazarus didn't want to fight him, to begin with. His goal was to find Michael and bring him back to Marley, not kill him. He fears that if he puts too much effort into fighting him, he'd accidentally do just that.
"I didn't want things to go this way, Michael. But I don't have a choice anymore. You need to listen to me. You are-
The Winged Titan was rudely cut off by a long crystal spear that he barely managed to dodge in time as it grazes his masked left cheek, kicking up sparks.
The Crystal Titan then begins conjuring up more spears and furiously throws them in his direction. The Winged Titan flies out of the way and dodges every strike.
"Damn you!" Michael mentally screamed in rage. "Come down here and fight me properly you coward!"
"I don't want to hurt you, Michael. Call me what you like but you won't make me fight you!"
Michael froze as he was about to toss another conjured spear. How the hell did he know what he was thinking? He said that within his mind. His Titan was incapable of speech like Lazarus's so there was no way he heard him say it. So how did he know?
"I can hear all your thoughts, Michael! I anticipated every throw you made and simply moved out of the way. It's one of the many things I can do as the Winged Titan. Do you understand now why I'm asking you to give up and listen to me? The power you possess is nothing compared to my power. And unlike you, I've had years of training on how to use it. You cannot defeat me. So please stop this pointless battle or else I'll be forced to make you stop!" Lazarus said in a deep, threatening tone.
Michael was shocked to confirm that he was telling the truth. He really can read his thoughts. Realisation soon strikes him hard as the cogs in his head started to turn. He now understands how the Warriors were able to perfectly plan out a countermeasure for every move the Survey Corps made on them.
This angered Michael even more than before; his fists clenched tightly in response. All this time they've been together. All this time he'd been letting his guard down around him, Lazarus had been manipulating and taking advantage of it.
"Lazarus. You lying piece of shit! All this time you've been going on about what it means to be a soldier. Always talking about honour. Telling me how you always put us before yourself. That our lives mattered to you. You really played us all for fools, huh?!"
Suddenly, Michael forms a huge crystal pillar directly underneath his feet and uses it to propel himself up into the air and attack Lazarus. Before he could react, Michael wraps his hardened fingers around his neck and attempt to choke the life out of him while they fell out of the sky once again.
This time he puts his entire body weight onto Lazarus, increasing the velocity of the fall and thereby making the crash much more agonising for him. They both hit the ground with a deafening crash, leaving Lazarus's feeling a little dazed.
Michael takes full advantage of this opening and unleashes a fury of hard punches. His knuckles harden with tough, penetrating spikes, increasing the amount of damage to his face.
"You were always acting so cool. So badass. So much better than all of us during training, that everybody started looking up to you. Respected you! Wishing they could be like you! Even I did. But you took all that trust and respect and crushed it like it was nothing! DID ANY OF US REALLY MATTER TO YOU?!"
The Winged Titan catches both of his fists and manages to hold him at bay. Then to Michael's surprise, he manages to push his arms back, showing that he's much stronger than him despite his build being skinnier compared to his own bulky body.
Lazarus then kicks Michael off of him and sends him toppling backwards. He soon gets back up and removes his broken mask, revealing his horrific, muscled face. It looked as if he'd ripped the skin completely off.
As Michael starts to get back up, he was shocked to see Lazarus's hardened skin and armoured mask regenerate in a matter of seconds. Usually, all Titan regeneration takes minutes to heal, or hours if the injury was too severe. Yet Lazarus didn't obey those same rules.
"You did matter to me, Michael. Everyone I've met mattered to me. Yes, at first you didn't matter. But that was because I was taught from birth to hate the people in the walls. But the years I've spent here have shown me that it was all a lie. Had I realised that before, I never would've attacked the walls in the first place. But there's no use dwelling on the mistakes of the past now when I've got a future to save."
The Crystal Titan growled as it got back up on its feet, staring down at the slowly approaching Winged Titan. Its wings were tucked into its back for it to maintain balance while walking.
"We matter to you? THEN WHY DID YOU KILL MARCO?!" He telepathically vented, forcing the Winged Titan to stop in its tracks.
"He was our comrade! Our teammate during our training years! He was the first one who followed you without question because he saw you as a trustworthy leader. And you killed him without a hint of regret! If he truly mattered to you, you would be broken up over it. But you looked down on him like he was nothing. Just like how you look down on all of us suffering and dying from the safety of the sky! You truly disgust me, Lazarus. And I promise you that you will pay dearly for what you've done!"
"Your rage is blinding you. I'm not gonna make excuses for what I did, but I plan on fulfilling the promise-
"I don't give a shit about what promises, goals, or motivations you had to justify all this devastation! You made your choice and I've made mine! This is MY home. These are MY people. And they are MY friends! And I will NOT let you take that all away from me!"
"You don't know what you're saying. And I can't let you interfere!" The Winged Titan carries an intense seriousness in his voice. "This is your last chance to stand down. If you refuse again, I'll have no choice but to rip you out of your Titan body and drag you back by force!"
The Crystal Titan thinks nothing in response and summons a long sword in his right hand and prepares to charge him down and strike him where he stands. Lazarus sighs in defeat. He tried his hardest to talk him down, but it was clear there was no getting through to him. He was too consumed with vengeance towards him to think rationally. With no choice, The Winged Titan takes up a fighting stance in preparation to defend himself.
"So be it." He muttered in disappointment.
The Crystal Titan unleashes another anger-induced roar before charging at full speed at the Winged Titan, readying his sword for a downward strike. Lazarus responds by closing his wings around his body and hardening them just as the blade came into contact with him.
The attack did nothing to Lazarus's defence, forcing the enraged Michael to continue striking it, hoping he'll break through eventually.
Lazarus suddenly opens his wings, shattering his hardening and sending the broken shard hurtling through the air. One of them managed to pierce Michael's eye, forcing him to back away and cry out in pain. Lazarus takes this opportunity to land his punch across his left cheek, staggering him to the side.
Michael rips out the shard embedded in his eye and dodges the next punch. He locks his arm under his own, keeping Lazarus in place, and within range of his second sword strike.
The left wing of Lazarus's Titan folds in time to block the incoming strike. He then quickly opens it up again to knock the sword out of Michael's grasp, as well as smack him upside the jaw, staggering him backwards and freeing himself from his arms lock.
The frustrated Michael recovers and dashes over to him, ready to throw another punch.
Lazarus's perspective of time starts to slow down as a previous memory with him and Michael played out in his head. It was the time the two of them were practising hand-to-hand combat. Michael was showing him a unique move taught to him by Erwin to help overpower an enemy.
"When an enemy throws a punch, dodge left and lock your arm around theirs." Michael's words echoed through his mind.
Following the instructions of the past, Lazarus dodges the left of the incoming punch and locks his arm around his just as he tried to earlier.
"Stun them by uppercutting them in the jaw, but use the palm of your hand instead of a fist. Too much force to the jaw will cause them to fall over rather than stagger."
He then thrusts his right palm upwards, clipping Michael in the jaw, stunning him and causing him to stagger once again. Now it was time for him to carry out the final part of the move.
"Then once he's stunned, knock them off balance so they'll collapse into your arms, and finish them off with an overhead slam."
Before Michael could understand what he was up to, Lazarus stomps the back of his knee, forcing a painful cry from his friend's mouth. This allows the Winged Titan to get underneath him and lift him on his spiked shoulders. His arms were still locked around his and his other arm around his leg. He then ends this by lifting him overhead and slamming him down hard on his back.
Michael was greatly injured by the very move he'd taught Lazarus. Both physically and emotionally,
"That lying, despicable bastard! He took me down using the very same fighting move I taught him! That move was only meant to be used to defend others, not prey on the weak! But of course, combat training must've been a joke to you. How much were you holding back on me?"
Enraged, the Crystal Titan slams both fists into the ground at his sides. The whole ground within a few meters starts to pulse with energy. Lazarus quickly realised what he was planning and backs off mere moments before a huge number of crystal spikes burst out of the ground behind him.
Though the Winged Titan was able to dodge some of them, that didn't stop Michael from summoning more his way. Outrunning them wasn't going to help matters as they spawn at a much faster rate than he can run on two legs.
As he leapt up into the air, dodging the one that appeared under his feet, the Winged Titan decided to switch things up by moving around on all fours, leaping from pillar to pillar in the hopes of reaching Michael. His movements were a lot faster, and unpredictable. Like a monkey swinging from one tree branch to the next… Or like how the Jaw Titan moved from Titan to Titan.
"I knew it! You WERE holding back your true strength!" Michael telepathically snarled. "All this time you've led me to believe you weren't as good a fighter as me. You only made me think that so you could trick me into teaching you MY fighting style! How dare you!"
He continued to summon crystal pillars out of the ground to stop or at least slow him down. But Lazarus swung from each of them, increasing his speed as he closes in on him. In a last-ditch effort to slow him down, the Crystal Titan erects a huge wall in front of him.
"This won't stop me, Michael!" The Winged Titan roared as it used the last pillar as a launch pad and leap forwards towards the wall.
With his sharpened claws, the Winged Titan shatters the crystal wall and breaks on through, only to be met with the sight of Michael raising a huge hammer above his head.
"Gotcha, you bas-!"
His eyes widen in shock upon noticing a huge build-up of fire swirling inside the Winged Titan's mouth which grew wider as he got closer.
"Sorry, Michael. But not quite." He responded telepathically.
A huge blast of flames erupts out of Lazarus's mouth, blasting Michael straight into the chest at point-blank range. The crystal armour minimised the damage dealt to him, but it could not repel all the force behind it. The Crystal Titan lets go of its hammer and gets sent soaring backwards until it hit the ground hard with a deafening thud. Its chest was left burnt in response to the intense power of Lazarus's flames. Even some of the crystal armour around that area had been shattered. Broken pieces of it lay scattered around Michael, most of them being blackened by the heat.
The first time he saw the Winged Titan breathe fire, he couldn't understand how it was even possible. But the way he'd been observing him fight so far, he knew for a fact that the Winged Titan was unlike the other Titan Shifters he'd fought. He could harden his body like himself and the Female. His hard armour covered him head to toe like the Armoured. He could move around on all fours, armed with sharp claws and teeth like the Jaw. It had an identical look and fighting style to Eren's Titan. And he could build up an immense amount of heat within his own body, so much that it concentrated into flames that he can unleash from his mouth. It was almost as if he was up against all the Titans, he'd encountered, all fused into one powerful being. Just what the hell was he up against here?
He attempts to get up again, only to be kicked over by the Winged Titan, rolling him onto his stomach, and exposing his back to him. Though it was still protected by crystal armour plates and spikes, Lazarus still had a way of pulling him out of there.
"And here I took you to be a real stand-up guy. Calm under pressure. Intensely focused. The sort of man who always puts his comrades before himself. Damn you! I would've given anything in the world to be half as strong as you! You were like my brother!"
Michael's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the feeling of a fast, sharp pain brushing over his nape. Kneeling atop his back, Lazarus uses his sharp talon-like claws to rip and tear through the armour like it were cardboard, hacking a piece of it off with every strike until he exposed the nape.
Michael struggled to get up, but Lazarus was using the blade tips of his wings to pin his arms down, rendering him immobile. He was completely at the mercy of the Winged Titan.
"Sorry, Michael. I warned you, but you would not listen." He speaks to him telepathically this time, as he was too focused to speak right now.
All Michael could do was lay there and await his human body being torn out of his Titan body and taken away to wherever he and the others came from. The fact that Lazarus refused to kill him didn't make him feel better either. Getting captured and being taken to who knows where left him feeling scared for his father and friends.
"What are you doing, Michael?"
Michael's eyes shot wide open in response to the voice of someone who he'd never heard before whispering into his ear. He realises he was back within his inner world yet again, or as he started calling it. As expected, he was once again surrounded by the shadowy spirits of the previous Crystal Titan users.
But something seemed off this time. Usually, when he comes to this place, the old man was always there to greet him and speak on behalf of the other spirits. But for some reason, he didn't show up this time. He looks around, hoping to spot him amongst the crowd of people whose expressions hadn't changed once since his first encounter with them.
"Hey, old man! Where are you?" He called out, his voice echoing in every direction, seamlessly going on forever without end.
"He is…indisposed." Another voice answered. Michael couldn't pinpoint where the voice originated from as it sounded like it was coming from every direction simultaneously.
He turns around trying to find the individual, only to be startled by him suddenly appearing in front of him, forcing him to stumble back until he fell on his ass.
He carefully looks over the mysterious figure from head to toe. As he walked closer to the light shining down on them from the giant crystals attached to the nonexistent roof of this void, his appearance started to become visible to him. He was slightly taller than the average man, who appeared to be in his mid-forties, with long flowing black hair, a thick black beard, and piercing ocean-blue eyes. The clothing he was wearing looked like battle armour with a long black cloak over his shoulders. He had a sword attached to his back and a couple of daggers strapped to his belt.
"Wait a sec. I know you! You were the guy I saw with the old man mere moments before I was pulled back into my Titan body. Who are you? And what have you done with the old man?" Michael demanded.
"Silence weakling!" The man sternly responded, his voice being loud enough to scare Michael into doing as he was told. "Out of all the Crystal Titan wielders I've seen over the centuries, you are by far the most pathetic. Only the strong are worthy to know my true name. For now, you will as address me as The Reaper. For I am the first Crystal Titan ever born."
Michael's eyes widen in shock. What surprises him, even more, is that the other spirits around them all of a sudden drop to their knees, bowing to him as if he were their fierce ruler.
"You were the first Crystal Titan? And all of these people wielded the power after you?"
"That's right. I have been observing you, Michael Smith… If that is indeed who you are." Reaper blankly replied.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He questioned the original Crystal Titan.
"Do you know why you're losing this fight, boy? It's simple. You're holding back the true nature of my Titan's power. Despite his heinous actions towards you and the people you care about, the soft, caring side of you cannot bear the thought of killing him. That foolish old man was feeding you lies. That is why I decided to get rid of him."
The Reaper grabs Michael by his shirt and effortlessly lifts him off of the ground to properly look him in the eyes.
"You think you're in control of MY power? How can you be in control when you don't even have control over your own life?! You don't even remember who you really are."
Michael was speechless. What did he mean by that? Was he referring to his amnesia? The part of his life before he met Erwin that was left a mystery. What does that have to do with what's happening now in the present?
The Reaper inevitably lets go of his shirt, allowing him to drop to the floor, hurting his tailbone in the process.
"As long as your mind remains incomplete, so will the Crystal Titan." Behind him a first-person perspective view of the Winged Titan slashing the nape of the Crystal Titan appears, allowing them to see what was happening in the present.
"Against someone like that, you don't stand a chance. The only reason you won the first time against Annie Leonhart was that you were on the brink of death, allowing our killer instincts to take over for you. But the other times you used our power, your half-empty mind was in control. You ended up losing that rematch. And your battle – if you can call it that – against the Beast Titan was so bad I laughed. You are a sorry excuse for a host. Why that old man chose to pass my power on to you I'll never understand."
Michael started to get angry again. Only this time he was angry with The Reaper for talking down at him similar to how Lazarus was doing to him before he was brought into this realm.
Fed up with how he diminished him, Michael attempts to get up and grab him. The other past incarnations of the Crystal Titan react to his approach, appear around him instantaneously and restrain him.
"Grrr, let me go!"
"Sorry, boy. But there are only two beings who have power over what remains of these spirits. And YOU are not one of them. Remove his shackles." He ordered the spirits.
The spirits that were holding his arms out grabbed hold of the chains that were at first invisible to Michael, only to suddenly appear on his arms as if they were there this whole time, allowing the spirits to unlock and remove them from his wrists.
The Reaper holds his arms out, allowing the spirits to connect them to his wrists instead. Satisfied with the feeling of having them on again after what must've been centuries, The Reaper wears a smile of nostalgia and pride.
"Despite your weakness, I cannot allow you to die when you have yet to produce your successor to inherit the power after you. Though some worthy candidates amongst your supposed Scout Regiment would make a much grander Crystal Titan than you ever could. For this battle, I shall be in control!"
"NO! You can't do that?! What do you plan to do?!" Michael demanded to know, struggling against the many arms holding him down.
"What you failed to do. Kill the traitors and destroy the enemy's most powerful weapon." Reaper coldly declared without even looking back at him.
"NO! Don't do it! You're right! I was holding back, but only because I needed to know what drove him to do all this!"
"Does a soldier need a reason to kill?" Reaper asked rhetorically. "No. In a war, an enemy doesn't need a reason to kill. They just do as they're told like all soldiers should. The day you understand that will be the day you finally earn my respect, as well as my full power."
Back in the present, the Winged Titan manages to completely tear off the armour covering the nape of the Crystal Titan's neck. Slowly leaning in, it opens its mouth, ready to rip Michael out of it.
Before he had the chance to, dozens of crystal spikes erupt out of his back and the ground around him, impaling Lazarus in several places, including the inside of his mouth and piercing the back of his throat.
The Crystal Titan knocks him off with the back of his head, allowing himself to get back up on its feet. The spikes on its back retract, returning it to normal. It slowly turns around to look at the Winged Titan. Its eyes were glowing an intense deep ocean blue.
Within the Titan's nape, Michael's face wore a fiendishly evil smile. His eyes were also glowing blue, implying that he was now possessed by the spirit of The Reaper. He lightly begins to chuckle. The Crystal Titan's body copy's him and audibly lets out a deep, monotone laugh of its own.
"Hey, Lazarus. Asshole! I don't know what kind of face your making right now, but I hope you miserable pieces of shit are pleased with yourselves. For you had just awakened the Grim Reaper, and he's come to claim your evil souls! Trash like you should be erased from existence!" Michael mentally roared with a tone more cynical than before. Michael may be in control, but the instincts of Reaper were in control of him.
Though the Winged Titan was incapable of expressing its emotions, on the inside Lazarus was starting to feel uncomfortable with the way Michael's thoughts were passing through his head. Just a moment ago he'd given up hope of actually beating him. But not only is he backup, but he's also obtained a real instinct to kill. Any doubts he had towards him were suddenly gone.
The Crystal Titan roars furiously as it telekinetically rips the dozens of spikes it's summoned out of the ground and throws them all at the Winged Titan. Lazarus attempts to dodge by flying over them, but Michael directs the spikes upwards and manages to pierce the membrane of his wings, the only parts of its body that weren't hardened, sending the Winged Titan hurtling back down to earth.
Refusing to give him a chance to get back up, the Crystal Titan pins his wings down with the remaining spikes. As he closes the distance, he summons a ginormous scythe within its hands and swings them down at the joints that connected the wings to its back, severing them from the Winged Titan, forcing it to let out a pain-filled roar. Blood sprayed out of the severed ends, painting the Crystal Titan's face red, which Reaper chose to ravel in, forcing a thrilling chuckle to escape the Titan's throat. Even though the blood would later evaporate off of his face.
Michael silences Lazarus by placing the underside of the scythe blade under his neck. He pulls with all his might in the hopes of severing his head from his body. The blade digs deeper and deeper into his neck until the hardened skin starts to crack and cut into his muscled flesh.
Lazarus started to realise that what he was up against wasn't Michael. But rather the same unstoppable force that took over him when he first transformed and fought Annie in the forest of giant trees. He'd only seen what it was capable of from the skies. Now he was on the receiving end of its wrath. He started to understand exactly how Annie must've felt when she was getting torn apart by it that day.
"I'll rip your traitorous head from your body! No longer will I have to look at your face! The very sight of you makes me so damn angry! It makes me sick to my stomach! NOW DIE YOU MONSTER!" He mentally roars as he pulls harder against his neck.
The Winged Titan's body begins to charge up with energy in response to its neck being violently pulled back. He then unleashes all that energy outwards like a blast of lightning, shocking the Crystal Titan and forcing it to let go of the scythe and get blasted up into the air.
The Winged Titan quickly rolls over, pushes its body upwards with both hands and kicks him in the torso with both feet, sending it flying backwards.
In the woods nearest the walls, the Armoured Titan sends the Attack Titan flying backwards with a well-placed punch to the face. Eren and Michael end up colliding with each other in midair before hitting the ground with a deafening crash.
Both combatants were dazed from the impact, unaware of the approaching Armoured and Winged Titans coming at them from both sides. A severely beaten Eren and Michael quickly get back up and face down their opponents. It was around that time that Hange, Armin and the members of squad one arrives, perched against the side of the wall.
"No, back down! You can't win against them! You must retreat to the walls immediately! Please don't do anything rash!" Armin shouted down at them.
But neither Eren nor Michael was in the mood to listen. Eren was completely blinded by rage whilst Michael wasn't in control of himself.
"Michael!"
Without thinking, Hange swoops in and lands atop the Crystal Titans' shoulder. She wanted to share with him a new fighting strategy for him to use against the Winged Titan now that he'd grounded it. But Michael remained unresponsive.
"Michael, answer me!" She shouted into his ear.
The Crystal Titan slowly turns its head towards his right shoulder. Hange was startled by the intense look he was giving her. His eyes felt as if they were staring right into her soul, piercing her heart like a ghostly dagger.
"Michael… is not… here!" The Crystal Titan slowly answers, putting a lot of effort into forming those four simple words.
Before Hange could clarify what, he meant, the Crystal Titan picks her up by the hood of her cloak with its thumb and index finger. Then without a care in the world, and flicks her in the direction of the wall, forcing a terrified scream out of the section commander's mouth.
Armin quickly races down the wall and manages to catch her as she was moments away from a stain of blood splattered over it.
"Section commander, are you ok?!" He asked concerned for his superior.
Hange was currently unable to respond as the fear of almost being killed by the young boy she treated like a family friend refused to leave her fragile mind. Had Armin not been there she would've died just like that. The Scouts would've lost their greatest scientific genius. And Erwin would've lost any chance of understanding what was going through his son's mind.
The Crystal Titan turns its attention back to his enemy, completely ignoring Eren who was still struggling against Reiner. Using its telekinetic powers, it summons its scythe back to its hand despite it being a few yards away from him and readies himself for another attack.
At this point, Lazarus was growing frustrated with Michael's continuation of keeping this battle going. It was time he stopped holding back and took things even more seriously. Like Michael, he was unknowingly holding himself back out of fear he might accidentally kill him.
To the Crystal Titan, and everyone else who was watching their battles surprise. The Winged Titan summons its weapon out of hardened crystal. In the palms of his hands, he summons a pair of giant dual katanas, identical to his Cloud Zero blades.
His wings still hadn't grown back completely yet, but he could still cover a lot of ground even with his ability to fly taken from him. Focusing his energy on his legs, Lazarus leaps high into the air. Everyone was terrified at the thought of him gaining this much height and distance for someone who was fifteen meters tall.
On the way down, The Winged Titan started spinning himself around with the blades in hand, like a giant rapidly spinning saw blade. Moving in the same way he had when he battled Titans as a human. The Crystal Titan shatters the scythe and replaces it with a huge crystal shield moments before the blades struck him.
The sounds of the blades scratching against the shield let out a loud high-pitched sound that forced everyone to cover their ears from the pain. It was the equivalent of someone scraping their fingernails on a chalkboard. Viciously uncomfortable for the human ear to tolerate.
Michael uses the shield to bash Lazarus backwards, stunning him momentarily. He then quickly closes the distance and locks his arms down, preventing him from using his swords again.
Without mercy, the Crystal Titan bends his arms backwards, ignoring the Winged Titans' roars of agony, until he manages to horrifically snap them like twigs. Blood gushes out of the elbows as the broken arms dangle by a sheet of skin before getting torn off completely and hitting the ground.
Hange, Mikasa, and Armin watch in shock as Michael grabs the Winged Titan by the horns and attempts to rip his head from his body. It was clear to them that Michael is the victor of this battle. There was no way Lazarus could come back from that.
Reiner briefly turns his attention away from Eren and looks over at his mutilated friend. This gave Eren the opening he needed to tackle and pin him down using Annie's technique he picked up during combat training. His armour splintered and breaks off of his body as Eren tightens his hold on him.
The Winged Titan's head gets horrifically torn from his body. Blood gushes out of his neck like a geyser, staining the grass around him. His limp body drops to his knees, followed by the rest of his body.
The Scouts watching the whole fight unfold were flabbergasted by the brutality of the way it ended. Sasha knew that something was wrong. She'd known Michael for five years; she knew exactly how he acts in a fight, and she'd never seen him act so vicious before. Even though Lazarus was a traitor, he didn't deserve to die like that.
"Is it over? Did he…kill Lazarus?" Armin uttered, still shaken up from the fatality.
"Lazarus… no," Connie added atop the wall. Despite all the evidence screaming at him, he still couldn't help but mourn over the death of the guy who moulded him into the soldier his family hoped he would become.
With the Winged Titan down for the count, the Crystal Titan turns his attention to Eren and Reiner next.
"No more, huh? Good! I hope you're burning in Hell, you goddamn devil!" He starts approaching the still-pinned Armoured Titan. A crystal-spiked mace forms in his hand as he closes the distance, planning to finish him off while Eren restrained him.
Suddenly, the sound of high-pressure air blasting can be heard coming from behind his head. Michael knew it was the sound of an ODM canister carrying someone through the air. But this one sounded slightly different to him. The noise it makes sounded a little more high-pitched than the standard gear.
Realising whose gear it belonged to, he performs a quick 180 turn to spot the source of the noise. He hoped it wasn't what he thought, but fate had decided to punish him. The one flying around him was Lazarus, still alive.
No one could believe what their eyes saw. Half of Laz's face was mangled from the brutal tearing. He practically had half a face, showing more of his skull and an empty socket where his left eye used to be. Yet somehow, he was still capable of moving around swiftly on his Cloud Zero. Not only that, but he was still able to fight with it on par with Levi, acting as if he hadn't even noticed he had half a face. Even Mikasa felt disturbed by this.
"I- impossible! He shouldn't be moving, let alone breathing. Half of his face is gone, yet he acts like it's nothing… what a monster." Hange stuttered.
They then notice the destroyed parts of Lazarus's face regenerate almost instantly, his muscle tissue, left eyeball, and skin all grow back while he just kept going without a care in the world.
"His head can regenerate?!" Armin questioned rhetorically as he briefly thinks back to the times when Eren and Michael were injured.
He remembered their wounds healing at a much slower pace. When Eren lost an arm during Hange's Titan experiments, it took a couple of hours for it to grow back completely. Lazarus lost half his face, yet he grew it back in mere seconds. Why is it that Lazarus was vastly different and stronger than the other Titan Shifters they've seen thus far? He and Hange decided to look more into this after they defeat the traitors and reclaim the duo.
The Crystal Titan roars as it extends its arm out in an attempt to grab him, an arm blade forms above its knuckles, giving him more reach. Lazarus uses his advanced skills to spin around his blade-tipped arm whilst closing in on him.
Michael uses his free hand to cover his nape, expecting him to strike there again. But instead, Lazarus manages to disconnect his blades from the hilts of his gear and fling them into his eyes. Now blinded, the Crystal Titan was forced to rely on its hearing to locate his position instead of flailing about in a panic and leaving himself open to another attack. The Reaper had years of experience in battle, he learned how to stay calm under pressure and adapt to any circumstances.
His acute hearing immediately picks up the release of the high-pressurised gas and charges in that direction. Unaware that Lazarus was leading him towards Eren and Reiner. Quickly pulling back on the thrust, he blasts behind the Crystal Titan, draws a new set of blades, and slashes his Achilles heels, tripping him up and skidding across the ground, kicking up a lot of grass and mud.
Lazarus then reaches the top of the wall and with a blast of Titan energy and lightning, he became the Winged Titan once again.
"He can transform again after only a few minutes too?!" Hange practically screamed as he places her hands on the sides of her head. "Soldiers, stand your ground! Be ready for anything he may throw at you!"
The Scouts stand their guard as instructed, expecting him to attack. But instead, he just hovered in place, staring down at them.
"What is he up to?" Armin wondered. He was too high up for them to engage ODM gear so attacking him wasn't an option. For now, all they could do was wait and expect the unexpected.
The Armoured Titan then lets out a roar of its own, catching Hange and the others off guard. She then noticed the Winged Titan circling the area around the three downed Titans. Realising what he must be planning, Hange alerts the others.
"Everyone be on guard. He's calling the Winged Titan to launch a counterattack!"
Everyone turns their attention to the Winged Titan yet again, ready to strike once it gets close enough. But it did no such thing. It instead decided to fly away from the battle and was gaining more height.
"Hey! Where's he going? Isn't he gonna rescue his comrade?" One of the Scouts questioned.
Flying up and into the sky to gain distance and momentum, the Winged Titan then came back down at the decaying Colossal Titan, slamming into him with full force and knocking him off balance and over the wall towards those down below, roaring the whole way.
"ABOVE YOU, LOOK OUT!"
By the time the others realised what he was doing it was too late. The Scouts quickly move out of the way, barely getting enough distance as the Colossal Titan impacts the ground in a big fiery explosion powerful enough to obliterate the Attack, Armoured, and Crystal Titans in one fell swoop.
To Be Continued