In the year 850, everything changed. It was the year that Eren Yeager unleashed the power of Ultraman. Mightier than any Titan, Ultraman could defeat anything that came his way, from mysterious beasts from below the surface of the earth to interstellar invaders bent on global conquest. On that incredible day, in our hearts, we knew that we weren't prey, nor were we cattle. We were strong. And we were going to take our home back.

Zeke and Porco rode back home on the back of Pieck Finger, who had taken her Titan form to get to the docks safely. Porco gazed out the window of Pieck's cart, looking up at the night sky and wondering what Reiner was going through up there. His gaze narrowed as he found himself hoping that wherever Reiner was, he was suffering agonizing torture at the hands of Bemular and whatever other aliens were on that "mother ship" of theirs. At the same time, he felt ashamed for not being able to complete anything they were sent out here to do, and he was worried about what would happen to his parents, the last remaining family members he had, now that he had failed his mission.

That evening, they arrived back at the docks where they were initially dropped off. There, chief overseer Theo Magath awaited their return, his face shifting to a suspicious squint when he saw that they were the only ones returning. He had known thanks to the death of the Colossal Titan that the Island Devils had developed anti-Titan weapons which were enough to defeat Bertholdt, but if the army he sent in was also wiped out, then they could be in trouble. Eventually, Pieck arrived at the stopping point and dropped everyone off. They saluted their captain and he returned it.

"Warchief Yeager, status report," Magath ordered.

Zeke remembered what Bemular told him to say to his commanding officer. Seeing no way to work around this command, he repeated every line to the overseer, right down to telling them about Eren and how he was the one who killed the Colossal Titan with a new power known as "Ultraman." However, Zeke also made sure to note the existence of a soldier in a suit of bulletproof armor, with a whip that could destroy the armor on the Armored Titan with just one strike.

Magath took off his hat and looked down at his shoes, reeling from the news that Zeke brought before him. The Founding Titan showing signs of activity was bad, but if there was one saving grace about it, it was that it was predictable. The people of Marley had an idea of what it was and what it could do. But this "Ultraman" was a completely unknown factor. The Armored couldn't withstand it, the Colossal couldn't scratch it, it seemed that they had no means to combat Ultraman. Looking back at his men, he could tell that all of them were in a similar state of shock and bewilderment. After gathering his thoughts together, Magath turned to the warriors.

"Alright. Head back to the ship. We're heading back to Marley first thing in the morning."

"Yes sir," Zeke replied.

The walk onto the battleship had no cheers, nor even any sighs of relief that all this was over, only a melancholy climb up a wooden ramp onto an unwelcomingly dull grey boat. Magath and his men soon joined them, but before everyone got onboard, the ground suddenly started to shake violently, knocking some men off the platform and into the water. Magath grabbed one of them and hoisted him up onto the boat, then turned around as the rumbling grew even more intense. As he stared up at the wall separating them from the rest of the island, he saw a cloud of dust rising from behind it. Zeke eventually ran outside to see what was happening as well.

"What's going on?!" Magath shouted. "Is this Ultraman attacking?!"

"I don't know, sir!" Zeke answered. "But we have to get inside! It's not safe here-"

Zeke was cut off by a massive gust of wind, followed by a tremendous crash as rocks came soaring over the wall and raining down on them. The boat was left unharmed as the rocks all landed in the sea, but this display was more than enough to scare them off. Magath lifted a radio off of his hip and up to his mouth, ordering a full scale retreat. With that, the ship began to set sail as they narrowly escaped the incoming disaster. As they fled, they saw a massive stream of fire errupt from the wall before a towering beast emerged from behind the wall, its heads peeking over it as it unleashed an ear piercing high pitched screech. It's scream was accompanied by a low, rumbling below as another monster emerged next to it.

"WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS!?" Several soldiers screamed as they all ran inside.

Magath hurriedly ran inside with them, but Zeke remained behind, awestruck at the two titanic behemoths duking it out with eachother, their battle ultimately resulting in the collapse of the wall as they wrestled for dominance over one another. Even after everything he saw on this island, and everything Bemular and Reiner told him, seeing these two giant creatures with power rivaling that of the gods was enough to make him collapse to his knees from the shock of it all. In awe and reverence, only one word was able to escape his lips.

"Incredible…"

The next day…

The Scouts rode along their path, continuing to establish the route from Colonith to Shingonshina, while also keeping their eyes pealed for any signs of Reiner or Bemular. Eren, Annie, and Ymir were keeping close to eachother near the center of the formation, each of them ready to transform at a moment's notice. Accompanying them was Captain Levi towards the front, with section commander Mike and cadet Jean on the left and right flanks respectively. Behind them was a wagon being pulled by two horses, and within it was a large, spiked net built to capture Titans, as well as several harpoon launchers. Finally, the wagon contained the little monster Pigmon, as well cadet Sasha Braus, who was combing his bright red fur to calm his nerves.

Despite the little monster's evident lack of offensive of defencive abilities, his shocking ability to revert the titan transformation both rocked the worlds of everyone not already in the know about where Titans actually come from, and made him a valuable asset to the team. Not even mentioning his acute danger sensing abilities.

In preperation for the 58th recon mission, Pigmon was given some simple training for what to do in case of danger. If the danger was an incoming regular Titan, Pigmon was told to simply chirp. If it was an abnormal Titan, he was told to chirp and stomp. If it was the Armored, or some other threat that required Annie and/or Ymir to transform, he was to chirp and scratch the ground. Finally, if they were about to encounter Bemular or any other threat that could only be thwarted with the assistance of Ultraman, Pigmon was to act out as wildly as he saw fit. Additionally, he was taught basic morse code for each position, seeing as it would be difficult to update his messages by scratching them into wood, and he wasn't physically capable of using pens of pencils. Pigmon understood how important of a role he would be playing and how many lives he'd be saving, but he was still very nervous.

Pigmon's eyes widened as he sensed an incoming titan attack and began chirping. Sasha noticed and then gently asked him to tell her where it was, which he did.

"Normal Titan attack in the outer left wing, sir!" Sasha relayed to Levi.

"Got it." Levi then fired off a red smoke signal in that direction, which was quickly reciprocated by that wing. He then looked ahead and saw a green signal in the direction they'd be heading, and their formation veered off to the right.

Another update to the original plan was how smoke signals would be used. Instead of the spotters being the first to fire off signals, that job would fall on the center rank, or "Ultra rank," as that was where Ultraman, Pigmon, Levi, and both Titan Shifters were stationed. Their smoke signals would be fired towards whatever rank was in danger, and they would then respond. Once the flairs are seen by Erwin, he will fire a green signal and they will move out of the way of the threat. The plan would only revert to its original outline should the center rank be attacked, at which point they would send out a purple smoke signal to inform everyone else that the formation has been compromised.

The Scouts raced across the open, grassy landscape of Wall Maria, remaining onroute to Shingonshina. All the while, things went quite smoothly thanks to an apparent lack of activity from the likes of Reiner or Bemular. But despite that, they didn't let their guard down. They knew just how intelligent of an opponent they were facing after the incident at Wall Rose. They were prepared for the possibility of them simply biting their time, waiting for the momet to strike. Additionally, they already told the Garrison to prepare for if something happened at Wall Rose or even Wall Sina.

Pigmon gave a couple more warnings for attacks, warning of normal Titans, before giving a more panicked warning about an incoming abnormal Titan attack in the center front rank. Eren's eyes widened when this news was brought forth, and his hands began to tremble.

'That rank…That's the rank Mikasa's in!'

Eren reached towards the beta capsule, but before he could do anything rash, he remembered just how strong Mikasa was, and that she was surrounded by other skilled Scouts. He took a deep breath and placed his hand back on his reigns.

'She's not a kid!' Eren thought. 'She can handle herself! I shouldn't be smothering her the same way she does to me!'

"You were thinking about going after Mikasa, weren't you?"

Eren looked to his left and saw Annie glancing back at him. Eren's eyes narrowed and he remained silent. However, he remembered the promise he made to Ultraman, that he would try to give her another chance, and he sighed deeply.

"You saw that?" Eren asked, his voice grim with a strong tinge of bitter spite.

Annie averted her eyes as her attempt to spark a conversation with Eren fell apart. However, Ymir soon chimed in to pick up the pieces.

"I wouldn't blame you if you did," she said. "After all, I can relate."

Eren raised his head curiously. "What do you mean?"

"The minute I heard about the abnormal ambush near inner-right, I almost went Titan just to get Historia out of there."

Eren wondered who this "Historia" was for a moment, but then remembered that that was Krista's real name. After Sasha gave Levi another signal, Ymir continued.

"I bet Annie over there was just about to tell you that she thinking of doing the same thing."

Ymir winked at Annie, whose cheeks reddened as she looked away, her stone faced expression noticeably cracking.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," She replied. "I was simply going to tell him th-that he needs to keep his emotions in check. B-besides, I don't feel those kinds of things for anyone. It's just not who I am."

"A certain blonde haired boy in inner-rear would beg to differ~" Ymir cheekily retorted.

Annie's stone mask shattered and she let out a weak, high pitched squeak as her face turned bright red, which had Ymir in hysterics. Jean and Sasha began cracking up as well, and evern Eren, for as resentful as he was towards Annie, still had it in him to let out a bit of a chuckle.

"Look at us! A trio of superpowered lovestruck giants!" Ymir declared while still laughing at Annie's embarrassment.

Eren chuckled again, but then his eyes bulged out of his sockets as he realized what Ymir was insinuating, and his cheeks became just as flushed as Annie's. "W-WAIT! HOLD ON, IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"

"All of you, pipe down!" Levi ordered.

The laughter and embarrassed shouting died down as the group continued onwards. While riding, Eren looked down at his reigns, still blushing at Ymir's comment.

'It's not like that! I'm not… in love with her… right?' Eren's expression then turned to a more curious squint, though still with bright red cheeks and a nervous stare. 'Is she in love with me?! Is that why she's so protective of me? I thought it was because she was trying to fill mom's shoes after she died, but if it's actually because she's in love with me…' Eren's expression softened as he looked off into nothing. 'Mikasa…'

Meanwhile, up ahead in the front rank, Mikasa Ackerman was leading the center-front squad to dispatch three abnormal Titans that came rushing out of the woods. She was backed up by two experienced Scouts, as well as Hannah Diament, a colleague from the 104th who Eren rescued when he first transformed into Ultraman. Her boyfriend, Franz, unfortunately, wasn't so lucky, having been bisected by a Titan long before then.

Since they were in an area dense with trees, they were abole to more effectively meneuver around the Titans, with the experienced Scouts taking full advantage of this and dispatching the first abnormal quickly. The second abnormal, which was making a b-line for the supply wagons, was also dispatched by Mikasa. The third however, was in the hands of Hannah, who was taking her sweet time with it.

Mikasa landed on a nearby tree and heard the brunette girl screaming louder than the Titan as she unleashed the full force of her rage upon it. Looking down upon the carnage, Mikasa saw that Hannah had sliced out all of the Abnormal's joints and was furiously stabbing into its eyes again and again and again, its blood splattering all over her and steam billowing off of her as she made an active effort to make it suffer as much and as long as she could.

Mikasa then gasped when she saw the Titan's arms had healed enough that it began to reach for her, so she hurriedly zoomed down and sliced out the Titan's naip, finishing the job she started. Hannah scoffed angrilly and she and Mikasa both hooked to a tree and landed on its branches.

"I wasn't finished," she growled.

Mikasa sheathed her swords. "You're welcome." Mikasa then got back into formation, and, after dropping her dulled blades, Hannah joined her.

Meneuvers like this were standard procedure for the plan. Normal Titans can be easily maneuvered around, but abnormal Titans are too dangerous to be ignored, and must be dispatched. So if a black flair is fired, the Squad leader will fire off a black flair in response as soon as the enemy is being engaged. Once the enemy has been dealt with, they will then fire a white flair to signal that the enemy has been defeated. However, if the Titan makes it too deep into the formation, or worse, kills the people trying to dispatch it, a third black flair will be fired towards the next group, repeating the process until the abnormal is defeated. However, if the threat becomes greater than anticipated, then any survivors are to send out a purple flair, requesting for aid from the Titan Shifters.

Thankfully, both worst-case scenarios didn't come to pass, and the inner-front continued on their path. While traveling, the leader of the group, Nanaba, looked over her shoulder to reprimand Hannah.

"That was a reckless move, cadet! You could have gotten yourself killed if cadet Ackerman wasn't there to save you! What the hell were you thinking?!"

Hannah, with an empty glare, replied, "I'm sorry, ma'am. It won't happen again."

"It'd better not," she replied. She then looked forwards. "Now look sharp. We're about to exit the forest."

Mikasa knew exactly why Hannah acted out like that. She knew deep down that she'd have turned out the same way she did if Eren suffered the same fate Franz did. Just thinking about the possibility, especially in conjunction with all the things Eren went through since becoming Ultraman made her tense up. Mikasa was never the best at dealing with emotions, though, and refrained from talking to Hannah as they broke through the trees and into the planes.

Once they were there, Mikasa's heart began to race. She saw the road that connected Shingonshina to Trost, long since abandoned by humanity. Titans lumbered across it, mindless and dead eyed as always. Looking around, Mikasa could see the other formations despite being a long distance away from them. Things were going well. Almost too well. Then, she placed a hand on her head as she felt a sudden headache. Additionally, she began seeing flashes of her past, and she couldn't understand why. However, when the headache passed, she was left with a sinking feeling that something horrible was about to happen.

Back in the center rank, they had just exited the forest, and could now see everyone up ahead and to their sides. Additionally, they saw the road that was overrun with Titans. It was difficult to make out, but they could see them very faintly in the distance.

'We're almost there,' Eren thought. 'Still no sign of either of those two bastards. Where are they?'

Pigmon became even more nervous now that they were out in the open, but remained calm. At the very least, he couldn't sense any imminent danger at the moment…

Or so he thought.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he could sense something big approaching from just outside their line of sight. This danger was enough to get Pigmon to jump up and start hopping in place while yelping over and over. Pigmon's freakout sent a chill down Sasha's spine and she relayed the information to Levi.

"C-CAPTAIN!" Sasha called. "IT'S AN ULTRAMAN LEVEL THREAT!"

Everyone was instantly on edge, and Levi kept completely silent as he fired an orange signal directly overhead. After that, Pigmon calmed down and gave the positional co-ordanates, allowing Levi to fire off another yellow signal towards the front formation.

The Yellow smoke signal is only to be used when Pigmon detects a threat that can only be Handled by Ultraman. Once the first signal is fired, that will be a sign to everyone that Ultraman is about to be released. The second yellow signal is a warning to every position in the general area to fall back towards the center rank to avoid the oncoming threat. While all positions in the center and inner ranks retreat, the outer ranks give off a signal once they spot the threat, be it Bemular, a kaiju, or, after what happened last night, potentially the Colossal Titan.

Everyone was ready for the worst, as the last remaining members of the Scouts finally breached the woods. Levi could see the inner front ranks pull back towards them, followed by the center ranks. Eren's hand gripped the Beta Capsule firmly, his sweaty thumb right on top of the button. His gaze narrowed, ready for whatever it was to pop out and attack.

And then, the ground began to tremble as a cloud of dust billowed out from around the corner of the walls. And soon, the monster that Pigmon alerted them of made his presence known, as Titans were launched into the air by the storm of dust and rock. It was difficult for Eren to look at, reminding him all too much of when the Colossal Titan kicked the walls in. But this time, he had the strength to fight back, and he was going to use it to protect his friends, his comrades, and the world from whatever horrors would come their way. As the cloud of dust began to part, the third and final yellow signal was fired by one of the spotters as they all fell back. Eren scowled as he got a good look at his opponent's face, with its off-red skin and pig-like face, but with with smaller ears, larger eyes, and a crest on the top of its head, before he raised the beta capsule over his head. It glimmered in the sunlight as he pressed the button.

Eren was then enveloped in bright red and white light as he was elevated into the air and transformed into Ultraman. He immediately took to the skies and flew right at his opponent, creating a sonic boom as he passed over the many Titans, which shredded any in the radius of it. Eren and the red monster then engaged in combat with eachother, the ground shaking as the silver giant slammed into the red behemoth.

The final phase of this scenario is for Erwin to fire off a green flair straight upwards, signalling for everyone to converge into the center as Eren and his opponent clash.

As everyone came together on Erwin's signal, Eren briefly looked back and smiled, his extended vision allowing him to see that Mikasa and Armin were safe, before returning his attention to his newest opponent: Banila.

Banila unleashed a high pitched screech as it got back on two legs, its thin, rat-like tail dragging on the ground behind him as he bore his claws at Eren, who responded by getting into a combative stance similar to Annie's. Banila roared and flung his head back before unleashing a wave of fire from his mouth. Eren simply crossed his arms and pushed right through it, before delivering a chop to the red monster's neck, dazing it and stopping the stream of flames entirely. He then performed a leg-sweep, sending it crashing to the ground.

Eren was just about to finish it off with an Ultra-Slash, but was caught off guard when Banila wrapped his tail around his ankle and dragged him to the ground. Banila then rose up and let out another high pitched screech, but taking his attention off of his opponent would prove to be his downfall, as Eren threw the Ultra-Slash at Banila's tail, slicing it clean off. Banila howled in pain as smoke billowed from the stump where his tail used to be.

Sasha began drooling as she watched the tail flop off of Eren's ankle. In her eyes, that tail more resembled a giant bratwurst, and just thinking about a sausage made of kaiju meat made her stomach roar like a beast. But while the Scouts continued to watch Eren's fight with Banila, they saw Pigmon starting to act up again, warning of yet another threat approaching.

As Eren grappled with Banila, he suddenly heard the deep, booming roar of another kaiju approaching, its footsteps once again causing the ground to tremble. Looking over Banila's shoulder, Eren saw this new monster had rough, bumpy blue skin, and a large head with a massive maw and a sharp nasal horn. The monster roared once again, revealing a scattered aray of sharp, jagged teeth. Eren gritted his teeth and readied himself for combat, thinking Reiner had sent out another monster to face him, but then something strange happened.

Banila turned his attention away from Eren and instead screeched at the new monster, Aboras. Aboras returned the favor by letting out a loud bellow at Banila, his nostrils flaring out. The two then collided with eachother and began trading scratches and bites, with Aboras' massive jaws allowing him to clamp down hard on Banila's shoulder, threatening to tear it off. In response, Banila blasted fire directly into Aboras' face, staggering him backwards.

Eren was stunned by the fight he saw playing out before him, but snapped out of it when he noticed the Titans that had survived him, Banila, and Aboras were approaching the Scouts. Eren looked back and decided that it was probably okay for him to leave them to their battle and focus on protecting the others. However, as soon as he turned away, Banila knocked Aboras to the ground, then turned around and blasted Eren in the back with fire, nearly knocking him over.

Eren grunted in pain, and then, enraged by the attack, he spun around and flung an Ultra-Slash at Banila, slicing right through his body, leaving him mortally wounded. But before Eren could finish the job, Aboras did that for him by blasting Banila with a light blue mist that turned into a sticky foam upon coming in contact with his skin. The foam quickly covered Banila's body, and then began dissolving it, causing him to collapse into a pink, steamy slurry. Aboras roared victoriously, then turned his attention to Ultraman, not content with just killing Banila.

Eren realized quickly that if Aboras blasted him with that mist, everyone behind him would be hit aswell, so he grabbed the monster in a headlock before he could use that ability and dragged hum away from the others. Aboras eventually managed to throw Eren off, who rolled across the ground and then chuck an Ultra-Slash which was ineffective against Aboras' tough hide. Eren was shocked and tried throwing two more, and while he was hurting the monster, he couldn't cut through him.

Aboras responded with a blast of his mist, which Eren countered with the cooling spray from his fingers, blocking the mist and causing it to condense into a pile of sticky foam, which dissolved a hole into the ground between them. Eren then dodged a second stream of mist, but then Aboras unhinged his massive jaw and unleashed a massive wave of mist from his mouth, which Eren got caught up inside.

Eren fell to the ground and struggled as the acid began eating away at his skin, with more of it covering his body as Aboras continued to blast Eren with acid. Eren turned his head towards the others and reached out for them as the Titans grew closer and closer and tried to reach out for them. He then screamed in pain and agony as Aboras stomped on his arm, before stepping back and continuing to spray him.

He gritted his teeth and clenched his eyes shut as he looked deep inside himself for anything he could do to get out of this situation. He remembered Ultraman telling him that they shared memories, so surely he had to have something that could help him and his friends.

Then, he finally found it.

Channeling all the energy he had, Eren managed to lift his arms up and cross one over the other, forming a "+" shape. Eren then narrowed his eyes and straightened his fingers. Aboras was then blasted off his feet as Eren unleashed a bright blue beam of energy from his hand.

The monster slowly climbed to his feet and placed a hand on his face, realizing that it was bleeding. He then growled as he watched Eren stagger to his feet, shake off the foam as it had failed to dissolve his body. Aboras tried to blast him with his mist again, but Eren crossed his hands together and fired his newest ability: The Spacium Beam.

The Spacium Beam easily overpowered Aboras' blast of mist, even after the monster unhinged his jaw and let out a full power blast. The beam pushed right through and blasted right down the monsters throat, causing him to explode in a massive ball of fire. Eren panted loudly, his color timer still blinking rapidly, but he still had enough time left to use this new ability to exterminate all the titans that had yet to reach the others, allowing Annie and Ymir to handle the rest. He then flew back over to them, utterly exhausted, before transforming back to normal.

Eren collapsed infront of the formation, with Mikasa running out to lift him up into her arms, panicking after seeing him go through yet another near death experience at the hands of a giant crature, and this time it was even closer than ever before. Out of every battle, this was the first time they had ever seen Ultraman seemingly desperate to survive, and the first time they were unsure if he would. For most experienced Scouts, it was enough for Eren to simply survive this, but the cadets that got to know him during training, they were all horrified to see him being battered and beaten down like this. Armin in particular came rushing out of the group to see if he was okay, but even Jean, usually the first to poke fun at Eren, was left speechless after that battle.

Eventually, Levi approached Eren just as he was starting to wake up again, and knelt down next to him, Mikasa, and Armin. Expecting a callous order to get back on his horse, Mikasa pulled Eren in protectively while staring at Levi with a burning rage. But instead of acting tactlessly, he simply placed a hand on Eren's shoulder.

"Good work, soldier," he said. "We'll take it from here."

Eren gave a delirious nod before Mike escorted him to Pigmon's carriage where he could rest. The rest of the mission went by smoothly, with Annie and Ymir leading the charge from then on as the Scouts made a mad dash for Shingonshina, still pushing forwards thanks to the momentum that Ultraman provided them. The Female Titan was already a force to be reckoned with, but when backed up by the Jaw Titan's speed and agility, they were practically unstoppable against the Titans, with the Jaw Titan using the Female Titan to leap from one Titan to the next, and then bounce back to a vantage point while the Female Titan cleaned up all that remained.

With all of these factors together, combined with two Ackermans who were both determined to see this through to the end, they finally made it to the shattered gates of Shingonshina. Upon dismounting, the first order of business, initially, was to plug up all the holes in the walls using Annie's hardening abilities and then clear out any Titans hiding within the abandoned city, but upon entering the city, they were all taken aback when they found that a large portion of the city was left a crater, with evidence of a fire stretching for miles upon miles.

Eren, Mikasa, and Armin were in disbelief. The Colossal Titan attack was bad, but nothing like this! They were worried that Eren's house may not even be left in all of this. Mike sniffed the air, and his eyes widened as he realized what happened.

"Levi, I've got a whiff of the Colossal's sent out here," he reported.

"How recently was it here?" Levi asked.

Mike sniffed the air again. "It's fait, but I can still tell it's him. If I had to guess, maybe a few days to a week."

"So what you're saying is…"

Mike nodded. "He could still be here."

Eren's rage began to build up as he concluded that all this must have been planned. Those two monsters were probably sent out to either kill him, or at the very least, make him waste his transformation. Now, they're left in a vulnerable position, and their enemies can come out at any moment to finish them off.

'Damn you, Reiner,' Eren thought. 'Just when things are looking up for us, you ruin it every time!'

Eren brought his theory to Levi, as well as Hange and Erwin, who looked towards eachother so they could discuss their next move. All the while, Mikasa had both her blades drawn, prepared for an attack. Armin, however, wasn't convinced.

'If they're planning on ambushing us while we're vulnerable, why give themselves away this obviously?' Armin pondered. 'I'm sure they knew our plans before attacking us during the 57th recon mission, because otherwise, they wouldn't have showed up where they did. And if they did know this, they would, or at least should, have known we'd be heading to Shingonshina, so why make it so obvious that we're here? Is it just to scare us off? That can't be it, because Bemular made it pretty apparent how intent he is on us, so what would they get out of just scaring us away?'

"All units, proceed with the plan!" Erwin ordered.

Armin turned around and saw everyone muttering among themselves, most of them nervous about proceeding with the potential of the Colossal Titan appearing and no Ultraman to protect them. Still, for the most part they did as they were told and began scaling the walls. While everyone else was getting into position, Armin began wondering if he and Erwin were thinking the same thing and approached him.

"Commander?" Armin asked, approaching him with a salute as the Female Titan walked past both of them.

Erwin looked down towards Armin. "At ease, cadet Arlert. What do you need?"

Armin lowered his salute. "W-well, it's just…" He shook his head.

'No! You can't be indecisive, Armin! You just have to ask him simply and straight forward.'

Armin took a deep breath and looked Erwin in the eyes. "Sir, do you actually believe that the enemies are here?"

Erwin looked towards the wreckage, as well as all the signs Eren used to support his hypothesis. He then looked back towards Armin, "While I don't believe it's an impossibility, and I believe we should be prepared for anything, all logic points to that not being the case. It makes no tactical sense to give away their position so openly in an area they likely already knew we were attempting to reach."

"I knew it!" Armin whispered.

"Hmm? What was that?"

Armin yelped and rubbed the back of his head. "O-oh, nothing sir."

Erwin looked away, but as he did, Armin could have sworn he saw him smiling. But there was no time to think about that, as Armin had to complete his role in the plan.

As Armin scaled up the wall, Erwin's smile faded, as he began to think about what it means if the enemy had truly left. If Reiner didn't unleash those monsters, and they were simply acting on their own base whims and instincts, that would imply that they somehow found their way into the Walls on their own. And that means that somehow, somewhere, there was another breach in the wall.

Meanwhile…

A good distance away from Shingonshina, in the hole in the wall that Bemular created, a monster with smooth skin with indentations in it that gave it the look of being segmented marched through the wall, its crab-like pincers snapping repeatedly as it pursued a monster that was soaring through the air, with wings to large they could blot out the moon that was rising over their heads. The winged kaiju eventually landed and roared, baring its fangs at the opposing monster, who roared right back at it in response.