-E-

"My name is Bemular. And I will be the face of your demise."

Bemular then charged his claws and lunged at Eren, to which he responded by summoning an Ultra-Slash and swinging it at his enemy. The glowing, blue buzzsaw soared through the air at ultrasonic speeds, traveling straight for its target. However, to Eren's shock, Bemular was able to catch the Ultra-Slash with his charged-up hand, and then, by pumping enough power into his claw, he destroyed it.

"How the-" Eren stammared.

"Our previous outing was little more than a fluke," Bemular answered. "Now that I know your powers are returning to you, I will not underestimate you again!"

Bemular proceeded to land a flurry of charged jabs at Eren, which he had to try his best to keep up with, dodging and blocking each attack to the best of his ability. Eventually, Bemular swung their tail, smacking Eren away, before charging up and firing their mouth beam. Knowing that if he dodged the blast, the people below would be hit, Eren had to tank the full brunt of the blast and power through it. However, while blocking Bemular's beam, Eren looked to the side and gasped as he saw two giant monsters approaching two other districts of Wall Rose. One was another Telesdon, but the other was a white creature he didn't recognize, with long black horns and whips for hands.

Once the blast finished, Eren slammed both his fists into Bemular's gut, then kneeing them in the chin. While they were stunned, Eren launched an Ultra-Slash almost point blank, which Bemular just barely managed to dodge, as it cleaved through their clavicle, leaving their arm dangling limply. Bemular hissed with pain and began focusing a lot of their energy on regenerating, but then they heard the hum of the Ultra-Slash returning and ducked out of the way as it returned to Eren's hand, much to his surprise.

"I see you've noticed our little surprise," Bemular teased with a mirthful chuckle.

"You sick piece of shit!" Eren growled, his fists clenched tightly.

Eren tried going for a punch, but Bemular easily dodged it and countered with an elbow hit to the chin, followed by a roundhouse kick that knocked him right outside of the Utopia district. Eren stood up and growled as Bemular floated down in front of Eren, their shoulder almost fully regenerated as they shrugged off cannons being fired at their back.

'Damn it!' Eren thought, 'I have to take out those monsters! But I can't just let them off! They need to pay for what they've done! Plus, it's not like they'll let me leave just like that. I have to beat them first, and I have to do it quickly!'

-H-

While Hange, Armin, Annie, and Sasha were studying Pigmon out in the courtyard, for whatever reason, he suddenly started freaking out for no discernable reason. Sasha ran up to him and tried to calm him down, but he kept screeching and jumping in place frantically while pointing toward Trost District.

"Pigmon, what are you trying to tell us?" Sasha asked. "What's going on?"

While they were trying to figure out what had Pigmon so worked up, Moblit suddenly ran towards Hange with a report firmly clutched in his hand.

"SECTION COMMANDER! YOU NEED TO SEE THIS!" He called, approaching Hange.

Hange straightened her glasses and read the report. Her eyes expanded as she kept reading the report. Armin and Annie noticed the terrified look on her face and approached her.

"I-is everything alright, section commander?" Armin asked. "What does it say?"

"...Reiner showed up in Trost."

Everyone's hearts sank as they heard the news, Annie's especially, as she realized she'd have to face her former comrade sooner rather than later. Hange directed everyone to the stables so they could get on their horses. They all saluted her and headed there, with Pigmon running after them. She then turned to her assistant.

"Moblit, I need you to tell everyone else who hasn't gone with Erwin that we must head to Trost ASAP!" She ordered.

"Yes, section commander, ma'am!" Moblit confirmed with a salute before running off inside to gather everyone else.

'Erwin, it looks like you were right on the money after all,' Hange thought.

-E-

Erwin watched Eren and the armored monster streak across the sky, Ultra-Slashes clashing with charged claws as the two duked it out. All the while, he saw Telesdon growing closer and closer to Colonith district. As Erwin watched on, Levi stepped up to speak with him.

"Orders, Erwin?" Levi asked.

Erwin closed his eyes with a contemplative look on his face. He expected Reiner and the armored monster to attack again when he heard their warning back in Wall Maria, but he didn't expect them to attack so soon, or how they could have gotten another monster so soon. Looking back up, it quickly donned on Erwin that the armored monster wasn't fighting to kill, but rather, they were fighting to stall Eren for long enough that the other monsters could reach the districts. So, the objective was clear.

"We have to buy Eren enough time to defeat his opponent," Erwin said. Erwin then loaded a yellow flair and fired it off, to rally everyone to him.

The other groups soon converged on Erwin's position so that he could give an order.

"Listen up!" He declared. "As of right now, defending Wall Rose is our top priority! We need to stall those monsters in any way we can! Go for the eyes, the ears, whatever you can pierce with your weapons, do so! But above all else, we need to make sure they don't reach either of the two districts!"

"Yes sir!" Everyone said in unison.

"Mikasa, you'll be with me in Squad A, as you're the only one of us besides Eren who has any experience with fighting Telesdon," Erwin said.

"Right," Mikasa confirmed.

"Levi, you will be leading Squad Be against the"

However, before Erwin could finish giving his order, they heard a loud explosion at the gate of Trost. They all looked over at it and saw that the Armored Titan had breached through the inner wall. Everyone was startled by Reiner's sudden appearance. All except Erwin and Levi. And it became clear why when they saw a flash of lightning, followed by the arrival of the Female Titan, standing in opposition to the Armored Titan.

"As I was saying, Levi, your squad will be going up against the new monster," Erwin said.

"Got it," Levi replied.

With that, both squads went off to face the two giant monsters and buy Eren time.

-A-

Armin rode right beside Annie as she charged into battle. As the two approached Reiner, they saw him revving up to charge back into Trost. Armin deduced that this meant he probably didn't break through the Trost boulder yet and explained this deduction to the others. Annie nodded in acknowledgment before hardening her fist and delivering a running punch to Reiner's armored face.

Reiner was dazed for a moment but regained his bearings quickly enough to dodge Annie's next strike and counter it with an uppercut to the jaw. Annie was just barely able to harden her jaw in time before she was launched off of her feet and into the air. Annie landed on her back and groaned, then smirked as she heard Reiner collapse to his knees. She looked up and saw Hange swoop past the backs of Reiner's knees and slice them both out, sending him collapsing to the ground.

"He's all yours, Annie!" She called.

Annie nodded and charged at Reiner, before hardening her knee and hitting him in the chin with it, in the process knocking off the armored plating on his face. Reiner tried to tackle her, but she was able to dodge it easily, then hook her arms under both of his, beginning to tear them off. Reiner tried to roar for help, only for Sasha and Moblit to swoop in and cut at his jaw, leaving it dangling open. However, there was one thing Reiner could still do. Just before Annie ripped his arms off, Reiner screamed, not with his Titan's mouth, but from within his naip.

"TELESDON! I NEED HELP! GET OVER HERE!" Reiner screamed.

-E-

As Squad A approached the side of the wall where Telesdon was being pelted with cannon fire, they readied their blades to cut at Telesdon's one known weak point: the eyes. However, before they could challenge the giant beast, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and roared, before beginning to dig through the ground, burrowing underneath the walls.

"Shit!" Jean cursed. "Since when could the thing do that?!"

"It must not have seen a need to use such an ability when fighting Eren," Erwin said. "We'll have to make our way to Karanase district before it-"

But before Erwin could finish his order, Telesdon exploded out of the ground within Wall Rose and began stomping towards Reiner. Erwin's eyes widened as he realized that Reiner must have commanded Telesdon to assist him.

'Well, at the very least, this reduces the number of civilian casualties,' Erwin thought.

Erwin then drew his sword and pointed it at Telesdon. "SCOUTS, ATTACK!" He roared.

And with that, all the ODM users in Squad A jumped off their horses and began scaling the mountain of a monster with their ODM gear. Erwin followed with them as they climbed the monster's body, searching for any points on its body that could be weak to their attacks. Through this method, they were able to find several soft spots within the folds of Telesdon's body just soft enough to cut through with their blades. However, the many cuts throughout his body caused the monster to wail and flail about as blood squirted out of each cut. However, the simple force of the blood gushing out of Telesdon's wounds was enough to knock a few soldiers off of him, clog their ODM gear, and send them plummeting to their deaths.

-R-

Reiner could tell that things weren't going as planned from a distance, but they did allow Reiner to take advantage of the distraction by throwing Annie off of him. He then stood up on his regenerated legs, rushed her down, and clashed fists with her. As Annie and Reiner's struggle continued, the Scouts assisting Annie tried and failed to get a solid hit off on Reiner, as he was now moving around too much for them to get in close enough to hit any of his weak points.

-E-

As Eren and Bemular wrestled in mid-air, Eren tried his best to redirect the two toward Telesdon or Gudon, even throwing Ultra-Slashes at them, however, Bemular was able to thwart each attempt at trying to pull the monsters into the fight. Eventually, Eren grew tired of this and used an Ultra-Slash to try and cut Bemular in half, but then Bemular revealed that their hands weren't the only limbs they could pump energy into. As Eren wound up to throw the Ultra-Slash at them, they focused their energy into their tail instead of their hands. Then, with a swing of their tail, Bemular was able to create a crimson crescent-shaped shockwave attack which exploded on impact with the Ultra-Slash.

Bemular chuckled to themself, however when the smoke cleared, they found that Eren had left. They looked down and saw him flying towards Gudon, where he began by landing a mighty kick in the monster's chest which knocked it backward. Squad B watched as Eren engaged with Gudon, grappling with it on the ground. However, Eren was suddenly blindsided by a Crimson Slash from Bemular, which was powerful enough to draw blood from him.

Gudon then proceeded to ensnare Eren with his tentacles, then slam him on the ground, and drag him across the countryside, smacking him through trees, empty houses, and titans, before throwing him into the wall nearby. Gudon roared and went after Eren, and Bemular followed suit. Eren stood back up just as Gudon charged head first, ramming him with his horns. Eren grabbed them tightly, hoisted Gudon off his feet, and swung him like a mace as Bemular flew towards them.

Bemular twirled out of the way, before blasting Eren with their breath beam, to which Eren responded by using Gudon as a meat shield. All seemed to be going well, until Gudon's tentacles wrapped around Eren once more, restraining him and allowing the monster to ragdoll him once again. Gudon eventually released Eren, and then he and Bemular took turns pummeling Eren against the wall until it gave way… and revealed two colossal titans lying beneath it.

While Gudon and Eren continued to fight, Bemular approached one of the Colossal Titans, finding their existence peculiar. As they observed them though, they suddenly saw two more Colossal Titans rise from the rubble where Eren was knocked through the wall. Then, all four of them began to mindlessly wander about, just like any other titan.

"Hm. Peculiar," Bemular muttered to themself. But, these colossal titans, without human intelligence behind them, were useless to them.

Bemular was about to jump back into the fight, but the drop in adrenaline caused the pain of maintaining their giant form quickly crept up on them, and they hugged their torso while pressing their knees together. Their time was almost up. But, judging by the flashing light on Ultraman's chest, so was his, and Gudon was still more than able to keep fighting. They watched Ultraman try to use an Ultra-Slash on Gudon, but they were blocked by Gudon's rapidly rotating whips.

Bemular chuckled softly to themselves as they turned back to their normal size, and then casually walked back behind Wall Rose through the newly formed hole in the wall so that they could recover.

Meanwhile, Eren was backed into a corner by Gudon as he kept getting hit with a flurry of whip strikes. Gudon seemingly had an answer to every single one of his abilities, making this easily the most frustrating fight Eren's faced yet. And this frustration caused Eren to begin to forgo tactics and skill in favor of simply trying to beat down Gudon as quickly and savagely as possible. But even this act of desperation was thwarted by Gudon's horns and tail, as well as the spikes all over his body. Eventually, in the middle of this battle, Eren's color timer began to flash and beep, and Eren realized that his time was about to run out.

However, the mood of the battle changed when the two combatants suddenly heard a tremendous crack of thunder in the distance.

-F-

{Minutes earlier…}

The Stohess Military Police headquarters was in a panic once the news reached them that every district of Wall Rose was under siege all at once. While everyone was scrambling to get ready for a potential attack on Wall Sina, Marco, Marlowe, and Hitch, dressed in their ODM gear, ran upstairs towards Marco and Marlowe's room to let Frieda know that they were going out on a mission. Marco swung the door open and took a moment to catch his breath.

"FRIEDA!" Marco shouted. "I KNOW YOU DON'T WANT US BARGING IN LIKE THIS, BUT-"

But Marco stopped when he realized that she wasn't in there.

"Where is she?" Marlowe asked.

"Uh, guys…" Hitch pointed to the window at the other end of the room. The curtains on the window were missing, allowing them to see that it was wide open. Additionally, all the sheets on Marco and Marlowe's beds were stripped off. As they got closer, the three saw a makeshift rope tied to the window, made out of the bedsheets and curtains. And additionally, they saw a note on the couch Frieda would often sit on by the window. Marlowe cautiously picked it up and began reading it.

"It's from Frieda," he said. "'My friends, I'm sorry for leaving unannounced, however as the princess of Paradis, I have to fight to defend my people, no matter the cost. I know very well what is coming. I don't know how, but I know that I am needed to stop it. I am currently heading toward the gate to Wall Rose so that I can do what needs to be done, and save my people. I can only hope that I may be able to overcome the vow just this once. Sincerely, Frieda.'"

The trio then looked towards the window, and Marco was the first to steel his resolve. Taking initiative, Marco grabbed an extra Military Police uniform from his wardrobe.

"Alright, let's go," Marco said.

"Go? Where are we going?" Hitch asked.

Marco looked back with a determined smile. "To help our friend, of course."

Hitch and Marlowe looked at eachother, before both nodding in agreement. With that, Marco, Hitch, and Marlowe, all took off using ODM gear, flying out the window of the building and then traveling the streets in search of Frieda. It didn't take them long to find her. Once they found a group of MPs stunned in place, all stuck in attacking positions, it was clear that they were on the right path, and after scurrying through alleyways, they eventually found her and landed in front of her.

Frieda panicked and nearly shouted "STOP" at them, but calmed down when she realized who it was.

"What are you three doing here?" Frieda whispered, "Shouldn't you be helping the other MPs?"

"We're here because we're going to help you do whatever you plan to do," Marco said.

"Plus, I have a feeling we'd be safer with the Founding Titan than with them," Hitch said.

Frieda sighed and smiled at the three.

"Also, you should put this on," Marco said, handing her the spare uniform. "It will help you blend in with us."

"While it is illegal for citizens to wear Military garb, in this situation, we'll have to overlook that to do what's right," Marlowe said, prompting a playful jab from Hitch.

"You're such a nerd, you know that right?" She teased.

Frieda nodded and took it. They then turned away as Frieda hid behind some boxes and began to change. Once Frieda suited up in a Military Police uniform, the four of them, headed towards the gate, then used the elevator to scale up to the top of the wall. At the very top, Frieda took a deep breath.

"So how do you use your powers?" Hitch asked.

"I just need to injure myself," Frieda replied. "Then, I'll transform into a Titan. You three should step back."

The trio nodded and made some distance between them and Frieda, as she lifted her hand to her mouth. However, before she could bite her hand, she suddenly felt a strong pressure in her skull and fell to her knees, clutching the sides of her head as her mind began to numb. The trio ran to her side to make sure she was okay. Hitch lifted her head and saw her eyes starting to turn purple as white cracks slowly formed across them.

"Frieda? What's happening?" Hitch asked.

Frieda clenched her eyes shut and curled up again as tears welled up in her eyes.

"No! Not now! Please, not now!" She begged, feeling herself being sucked into the darkness.

Eventually, Frieda stood back up, her eyes now purple with white cracks across her pupils. Her posture was completely straight and her eyes were emotionless.

"Frieda? Are you there?" Marco asked. "Are you going to turn into the Founding Titan, like you said you would?"

But she wouldn't use her powers. Because Marco wasn't talking to Frieda anymore.

"The day of judgment has arrived," she said coldly. "Hell has opened to swallow us all whole, and we as subjects of Ymir must now reap the wages of our sins."

All three of them recoiled in fear. Never once in their weeks of knowing her did Frieda ever talk like that. But they knew from what she told them that she was not the only person inhabiting that body.

"S-so, that must be the 104th king, Frieda told us about," Marlowe said.

"Humankind is undeserving of great and terrible power, as history shows us time and time again," she continued. "In human hands, power inevitably brings ruin. If the power of the Founder were returned to the cruel, weak-willed custody of humanity, it would inevitably cause harm, and plunge the entire world into hell. Eldia's sins brought this terror, so to save the world and put it to rest, we Eldians must embrace death."

"What is she… he…? Whatever this thing is, what is it talking about?" Hitch asked.

"B-but sir," Marco said, speaking to the king himself. "Frieda told us that these events took place a long time ago! So long that no one alive today was even tangentially related to those events! Not only that, but you have destroyed all documentation of them! How can you consider this atonement, when none of us even realize what we're atoning for?"

"Proper atonement is beyond our ability," the 145th king said.

"Then why-"

"This is not to atone for our actions. This is a means to ensure that we never take any more lives outside the walls. By living out our lives in ignorance, and accepting the world's rage when it comes, no one will have to die, besides the Eldians behind the walls."

"This isn't even really their revenge, though!" Hitch said. She then pointed at Telesdon as he emerged from the ground. "Can you honestly look me in the eyes and say that is, or ever was, human? Or that it'll be on humanity's side once it's done with us?"

"Hitch is right!" Marlowe added. "Once those monsters are done with us, who do you think they will turn their fangs on next?"

"Enough." The king said. "There is nothing any of you can say that will dissuade me. What's more, even if you were to convince me, Frieda is but a naive child. She could never comprehend the full scale of the power she possesses."

"How do you know that?" Marco asked, "You've never even allowed her to use her powers to their fullest extent."

"That matters not," The king said, as he closed Frieda's eyes. "What mattress is that the monstrous history that the Eldian empire has written in blood comes to an end now." The king opened Frieda's eyes. "I am sorry, but I ca-"

Suddenly, Frieda's left hand clutched her left eye and she stumbled backward slightly. She gritted her teeth and through her fingers, the trio could see that Frieda's blue eye had returned. The right eye moved individually like that of a chameleon and looked at the left eye. Frustration rose in the 145th king as he saw Frieda starting to break free.

"No! This… can't… be!" The 145th king struggled to say. Frieda's right eye then rolled into the back of her skull as Frieda closed her blue eye and began scratching at her skull.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" She screamed.

Suddenly, Frieda gasped loudly as white tentacles erupted from her back just like before. Frieda's head began twitching so rapidly that it left behind after images as her eyes shifted from blue to purple with cracks in her eyes, to completely green with no pupils. Marlowe held Hitch back protectively while Marco ran up to Frieda and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Frieda! Are you there? Is that really you? Talk to me!"

Frieda replied with a loud, guttural screech, before she shoved Marco out of the way with her tentacles, then charged forwards on all fours, leaping off the edge of the wall before biting her hand so hard that she wound up ripping her thumb off.

Lightning struck Frieda, and the three Military Police members watched as flesh suddenly formed around her, and an enormous, 50-meter-tall skeleton suddenly emerged, with Frieda attached to the nape of its neck. Muscle and flesh formed around the massive skeleton, and long black hair soon emerged from the Titan's scalp. Upon landing, the Titan screamed furiously as its back ripped open, and a row of spikes emerged from its spine. Additionally, long, white tentacles bust out of its back and waved about behind her.

As the trio gazed upon the enormous, surprisingly feminine-looking titan, they all cheered for Frieda as she stomped forwards towards Telesdon, who had nearly finished fending off the Scouts attacking him. As Telesdon was about to devour Jean Kirstein whole, the Founding Titan suddenly punched it right in the face, knocking the monster to the ground. The surviving Scouts landed safely and watched in awe as the Founder engaged in battle with Telesdon.

-R-

Reiner's eyes widened in shock and terror as he watched as the Founding Titan appeared, and was not only more than a match for a monster but was defeating Telesdon in hand-to-hand combat. Reiner gritted his teeth in frustration before giving another command.

"GUDON! FINISH OFF ULTRAMAN, QUICK! THEN COME HELP TELESDON TAKE OUT THE FOUNDING TITAN!" He commanded.

Realizing that the plan was going south quickly, Reiner ran towards the last place he saw Bemular, evading the Scouts as best as he could, as he tried his best to escape with Bemular.

'If I can break through Krolva, I might be able to reach Bemular, and we can escape. I just need to keep running, and hopefully I-"

Suddenly, Reiner's thoughts were cut off when he saw a group of soldiers riding towards him, cutting him off in the process. Reiner skidded to a stop and tried to run around them, but then felt someone quickly cut through all of his joints within the blink of an eye. As Reiner fell to the ground, he saw his assailant land in front of him.

"Well, don't you look like shit?" Levi taunted.

'Damn it…' Reiner thought.

-E-

Eren flew above Gudon, dodging his swipes and fighting back with Ultra-Slashes, only for Gudon to block them with his tentacles. However, that's when Eren came up with an idea. Remembering that his Ultra-Slash could boomerang back to him, Eren threw a slash at Gudon but intentionally missed him. Gudon chuckled mirthfully but then hollered in pain as he felt his tail suddenly get sliced off. Smoke billowed out of the stump left behind as Eren caught the Ultra-Slash, then threw it behind Gudon again, this time severing one of the monster's hands upon the return.

'I've got you now, you son of a bitch!' Eren cheered internally, before swooping down and kicking Gudon in the face.

Gudon tried to smack Eren with one of his whip hands, but Eren grabbed it and began to swing Gudon around, slamming him on the ground and into the walls, again and again, the same way Gudon did to him. Eventually, Eren pulled Gudon in close, still holding the monster's whip. He formed an Ultra-Slash in his hand and used it to slash at the Monster's neck until it was finally severed, and Gudon's head fell to the ground.

Eren lifted his fists and roared victoriously, then carried Gudon's corpse back behind the walls, before transforming back to his human form just before his timer ran out. Eren leaned against Wall Sina and panted loudly, satisfied with this battle. However, his eyes widened when he realized that he wasn't done yet. He looked past the wall to see where the Telesdon was…

Only to find a gigantic, feminine Titan with glowing green eyes and tentacles on its back holding Telesdon in a rear naked choke. Foam poured out of Telesdon's mouth as the Founding Titan suffocated him, before snapping his neck for good measure. The Titan roared triumphantly as she stood atop the Telesdon's corpse.

'What the hell?' Eren thought. 'That can't be a normal Titan. It must be a shifter, like Annie or Reiner, but then what's her angle? And why is she as big as the Colossal, and so much stronger than it?'

As Eren pondered this, he suddenly heard horses riding beside him. Upon turning around, Eren saw Nanaba and Connie there.

"Good work, Jaeger," Nanaba said. "I'm sorry for holding you back. If I hadn't, maybe things wouldn't have gotten so out of hand."

Eren sighed. "It's alright, section commander. At least we won."

"Eren! Did you see that new titan?" Connie asked. "It just showed up out of nowhere and started kicking the new Telesdon's ass!"

Eren chuckles softly at Connie's enthusiasm. "Yeah, I saw it. I wonder if anyone is operating it." "FALL IN!" Levi called. Eren, Connie, and Nanaba turned around, and Eren gasped as he saw Levi carrying Reiner over his shoulder, with all of Reiner's limbs removed.

"We're regrouping with the commander! Eren, I want you with me, understand?"

Eren snapped out of his daze and saluted Levi. "Y-yes sir!"

-E-

Erwin stood at the carcass of Telesdon as the Founding Titan crouched down in front of Erwin. As Erwin waited for her to make her move, his eyes widened when she opened her mouth and spoke.

"Greetings, Commander Erwin," she said.

Erwin kept his composure and replied. "Salutations. I take it you are the Founding Titan."

"I am. I'm surprised you're aware of that fact."

"Let's just say, we have some valuable sources that were kind enough to grant us this information."

"I see. Well, I'm sure you have questions, but I'm afraid I won't be able to answer any as of now. However, please know that I am on your side, and I am doing everything in my power to break the vow of the 145th king of the walls."

"Vow? What vow?"

"As I said, all shall be explained with time." Suddenly, the Founder's head twitched slightly. "My time is short. I must leave. Until we meet again."

Erwin watched as the Founder slowly returned to the walls, before enveloping herself in a cloud of steam. Once it cleared, she was gone without a trace. Erwin smiled after seeing her disappear, then fired off a flair to alert everyone to his location.

Eventually, everyone gathered around Erwin, and he addressed the crowd with his arms crossed behind his back, congratulating his soldiers for their victory today, dispatching two monsters, and managing to successfully capture one of their two greatest threats. "This battle has shown us that even as our enemies grow stronger, we still have the upper hand, and we will always find a way to overcome any challenge they throw at us. However, even still, we can no longer afford to fight defensively. With the enemy's tactics advancing at this pace, it is only a matter of time before they become too powerful for us to defend ourselves against. If we are to survive, we need to fight back. And this starts with us retaking Wall Maria. So get some rest, my soldiers, because soon, we will be bringing the fight to them!"

After that speech, the Scouts all returned home to rest, while the Garrison was left in charge of transporting and distributing the Kaiju carcasses, except for Gudon's severed hand, which Hange requested be left in the hands of the Scouts.

-B-

Later that night, Bemular levitated down to the spot where Reiner was felled by Levi and retrieved his communicator and Battlenizer. Bemular clutched both of them furiously.

"Damn those humans," Bemular cursed under their breath. "They're ruining everything! Even with a Reionic on my side, they're just too damn tenacious and crafty! Perhaps we shouldn't have used an adolescent Telesdon."

"You seem to be in a bit of a predicament," someone said from behind Bemular. The voice sounded wicked and slimy, with a very sinister tone.

Bemular turned around and saw a thin, gangly lady standing before him. The woman bore a black head with a white face, red eyes, and pink lips. Her body, contrastingly, was white, with black lines all over it, with black hands, elbows, and knees. She also had a gun strapped over her shoulders, a black belt wrapped around her waist with a blue light attached to it, a wrist device, and silver and red boots.

"A Dada? On Earth?" Bemular asked.

"Indeed. I am part of an alliance of alien races, all of us looking to occupy this illustrious planet. You may call me Unit: J1-73C. We've seen the work you and that human Reionic hybrid have done on this planet, and we were hoping to recruit you to our alliance. What say you, alien: Bemular?"

Bemular grinned beneath their mask and held out their hand to J1-73C. "It would be an honor."

-E-

Eren couldn't sleep. Despite being physically and mentally exhausted from today's events, Eren couldn't bring himself to go to sleep. He just kept replaying everything he learned today over and over again in his head, trying to compartmentalize it all in his brain. It was all driving him up the wall. He groaned and slowly got out of bed, trying not to disturb anyone as he decided perhaps taking a walk around the castle would help.

However, when Eren opened the door to leave his room, all he saw was darkness. Not a darkened hallway, because the light of the moon would have provided some light. No, it was like Eren was gazing into the void. And when Eren looked back, that same void was there to greet him. Eren began looking around, confused and panicking. As he looked around, he suddenly heard a voice echo throughout the void.

"Do not be afraid, young Jaeger," the voice called, its soothing yet powerful call echoing through the void. "You are safe here."

"W-who's there?" Eren called out. "What's your name?"

Suddenly, Eren heard someone walking towards him, and out of the darkness, Eren gasped as he was face to face with himself. Well, not exactly himself. He was standing face to face with his transformation, who introduced himself with a heartfelt salute.

"I am a warrior from the Land of Light, in Nebula M78. I am Ultraman."

Author's Note: I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't as good as the last ones. I ended up having to juggle too much at once because of just how chaotic everything was. If you can believe it, if I didn't force myself to wrap everything up by the end of the day, this chapter very easily could have gotten even more insane. Also, I'm trying my best to keep the Scouts Relevant. One of the things pit falls I keep running into with my AOT fics is that the Scouts keep being power crept out of relevancy, and I'm trying my best to make sure that doesn't happen here, and part of how I'm doing that is by making some of the early monsters squishy enough that Ultrahardened Steel can still cut parts of them. But another way I plan to do this is by sort of adapting a concept from Ultraman X. You'll see what I mean by that soon enough ;). For now though, I'm going to try my best to avoid MASSIVE events like this one until after I'm certain that I have a scenario I can handle a bit better than this. One of the benefits of this fic going so far off the path AOT OG set up is that I have more freedom to do as I please now.