God of Hate
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Godzilla or Attack on Titan
Titans had long pushed through the barricade, tumbling over each other without thought or regard for one another.
Something that Eins, Zwei, and Drei regarded with some minor amusement. At least their efforts made it problematic for the Titans, until the giants managed to accidentally unclog their traffic problem.
Turning their attention downward, they stared at the large boulder that they had finally found. Just judging by its height relative to themselves, it should be big enough to seal the breach if it could be moved and lodged into the gate.
It was too great a task for the humans to do with their own hands.
Unfortunately, their three headed body continued to not possess hands.
Drei, more to rule it out than really thinking it would work, leaned down to press his neck against it, hoping his scales would be enough to grip it. Zwei quickly deemed that a pointless exercise. Even if their necks had that kind of muscle, their body was too smooth for this, the boulder would slip through in no time.
Eins was looking back at their tails, eyeing the spikes with annoyance. If they knew to retract or fold the spikes, maybe they would be of better help.
Zwei hummed, turning them around to wrap their tails around the bottom of the stone. They were a bit more flexible than the necks, perhaps they could wrap around its base and allow them to drag or tilt it.
Eins growled in frustration when it refused to budge, and Drei was in a similar temperament.
[What is with this damn boulder!?]
[[[Why won't it move?!]]]
[[It's stuck.]]
[Obviously.]
[[I mean in the ground. Its weight pressed the ground down over time.]]
[[[Meaning?]]]
[[It'll get easier once we get it out of the hole.]]
[[[[Now we just need to figure out how.]]]]
"Do you still think this'll work, Commander?" Gustav asked as they watched the golden creature's attempts while Titans steadily trickled back into the city once more.
"Honestly, I'm not discouraged. The lad has to feel out the problem before he can make it work for him. He likely has the muscle to do the job, but not having arms or anything similar does complicate the issue," Pixis remarked, before turning to give them a wry look. "Besides, it's actually doing what we requested it do. Even if it fails, this discovery is the first great boon humanity has received in a century."
His aides accepted his judgement at that.
"Commander Pixis!" Rico Brzenska called as she approached, saluting him as he turned to face her, the boy behind her doing the same. "This is the cadet you requested, Sir."
"Ahh, Armin Arlert, just the soldier I wanted to see. Thank you, Squad Leader," Pixis said, nodding to them both, Rico departing afterwards.
"You wanted to speak me, Sir?" Armin asked nervously, glancing out to the city, eyes widening as he caught the golden creature. "Is that...?"
Pixis nodded in agreement. "We've confirmed the creature does indeed possess intelligence, the capacity to understand our language, and an apparent desire to protect humanity. It's currently attempting to move the boulder at my request," Pixis confirmed in summary. "I'm told that you played a part in convincing Captain Woermann of this golden fella's value to us and recognized him as a non-enemy from your first encounter."
Armin nodded meekly. "Yes, Sir. But I don't think I would put it like that. It was a rather obvious conclusion with all the facts."
"Be that as it may, I had a hunch," Pixis remarked craftily.
"A hunch, Sir?" Armin repeated in confusion.
"Tell me, Cadet, what do you see?" Pixis asked, motioning to the city.
Armin remained uncertain, but looked out all the same, his face settling into one of deep concentration. "Even if it moves the boulder, the Titans will still attack it. Unless it has more abilities we're not aware of, the dragon can't reasonably move the boulder and defend itself. At least not effectively if the numbers get too big. I'm sure you've already thought of that and plan to rally the troops to protect it as it moves the boulder. Even if the mission succeeds, it would lead to an extremely high casualty count, even ignoring our current loses."
Anka and Gustav looked mildly impressed with the young soldier's deduction of the situation, Pixis smirking at his hunch being confirmed.
"And how, exactly, would you propose reducing casualties without harming the mission's success?" Pixis prompted.
Armin looked surprised by the question, but steeled himself all the same. "I'm..." he took a quick breath, "The main issue is Titans will eventually surround it, gang up all at once..."
Meanwhile, Zwei had firmly ruled out pushing it with their legs, as it was just impractical, and also using their horned heads to push the rock as it was just too stuck in the ground. While it might work once they got it moving, right now, they only succeeded in making scratches with the horns.
That just left one option.
[[[[I really, really hope no one is hiding in any of these houses.]]]]
With that in mind, they turned and made a quick retreat from the boulder.
"Is he giving up after all?" Pixis asked in disappointment.
"No, I...I don't think so," Armin remarked, squinting as he saw the dragon abruptly turn around and pause-
Then it ran; it ran so fast it kicked up pavement, lurching forward to the rock. Then, with one great leap forward, it turned to slam its side into the boulder.
The great, spherical rock dislodged itself and sped forward half a block, crushing itself halfway into a building towards the wall.
Drei gave a little victory screech while Eins just sagged, glad that tedious task was done yet a bit dazed from the impact being on his side of the body. Zwei took the lead, bringing them over to the boulder and began to attempt moving it again. It wasn't easy by any means. The shape wasn't a perfect ball-shape, and it weighed a lot. But they could roll it at the least.
They turned and gave a great roar to the wall.
"He did it!" Armin cheered in relief.
"Good, now all I need to do is convince the soldiers to help defend our unexpected ally," Pixis remarked with a chuckle, turning to do just that.
"Umm, Commander? I think you might want to do that quickly!" Armin alerted, drawing their attention back to the golden beast, who was continuing to roll the boulder.
"Commander, didn't you tell that thing to pull back?" Anka asked with a scowl. "Are you sure it understood?"
"I don't think this is a miscommunication, but a judgement call," Pixis said with a scowl of his own. "He just got that boulder out of one hole, but he might have thought it would make another."
Armin's eyes widened in understanding as the commander left. 'Of course! We've been assuming this thing would be aware of something even the average human wouldn't know for sure. The road should hold without caving in under the boulder, but most people wouldn't be able to tell that if the stonework is cracking beneath it!' he thought as he watched the Titans around half of Trost tread in the direction of the dragon.
Zwei growled to himself in frustration as they used their heads and occasionally a knee to roll the boulder forth, the stonework of the road giving less than assuring sounds under the strain. If the boulder caused itself to collapse into anything worse than what the stone had already been in, he wasn't sure if they'd be able to ram it out again so easily.
But it wasn't a short walk to the breach; over five kilometers, with an increasing number of Titans in the path.
As much as endangering humans didn't appeal to them, it would pragmatically have been much better to wait for the soldiers to come and help them. But in the moment, they made a judgement call based on what was happening.
Besides, something was nagging at the back of their minds.
[[[[Where is he?]]]]
[The Bastard!]
[[The Armored Titan.]
[[[That Asshole.]]]
None of them were sure how well they would fair against that particular enemy. Even Eins conceded that, but he still wanted to find out. Could their teeth rip through armor that cannons couldn't pierce? Was their body strong enough to go head on against it?
All these questions festered behind the all-important one of why it hadn't shown up yet? They weren't sure how long this battle had gone on for, but it felt longer than...That Day.
They were pulled out of their thoughts as the boulder suddenly started to resist their efforts. Eins roared, biting at a ten meter Titan trying to push through the gap between the rock and the buildings to get to the golden beast. Zwei looked up and cursed to himself. There were a lot of Titans in front of them- and a couple smaller ones below them, crushed by the boulder. Drei made sure to start attacking the five to their rear, having wandered around a corner they had passed, the two tails crushing and shredding them as they came.
[[[[This could get ugly.]]]]
"ATTENTION!"
The soldiers of Trost, all terrified and on the verge of mass desertion, came to a silence at the booming voice of Dot Pixis.
"Take note, the Trost Recovery Operation has begun!" Pixis announced, surprising and confusing many. "The primary objective of this operation is to reseal the hole. Yes, you heard correctly. What's more is that it is being done manually!"
The confusion grew amongst the crowd. Everyone had pulled back; there were no more soldiers in Trost, right? So who was doing this? And reseal the gate, manually? Impossible!
"I'm sure by now many of you have heard or even seen the rumored beast now roaming Trost: a golden monster with three heads, slaughtering Titans left and right. Allow me to put all doubts to rest. This creature is real! And, furthermore, is intelligent. Hard as it is to believe, this beast can understand humanity's tongue! I have witnessed this myself, as well as its active attempts to not only kill the Titans, but seal the breach!"
The crowd grew restless. How could they not? Were they supposed to believe something like that?
"Recall the massive boulder roughly a league from the gate. This creature is already in the midst of moving the boulder to schlep it into the breach, in spite of the risk to itself as Titans will inevitably swarm it. This is where you all come in. Your job will be to defend him! Yes, defend a new giant monster from our mutual enemies, the Titans!"
Now the soldiers were beginning to break, some already turning to desert, with others attempting to stop or punish them.
"Anyone wishing to leave, shall by my order, not be charged with treason!" Pixis declared firmly, shocking everyone. "Those who have seen a Titan first hand will not be expected to revisit such horror again. Whoever this applies to, you may leave with my blessing. I only ask one thing before you depart!"
That made many of them stop, wondering just what the commander would ask of them in exchange for pardoning their treachery and so-called cowardice.
"All that I ask is that you come up here and take one last look at the battlefield before making your decision."
There was a tension among the army, deserter and otherwise. But human curiosity was a powerful thing. Four soldiers bit the bullet, using their maneuver gear to scale Wall Rose. Everyone waited for their return, but there was none. Two more went, then five and then another three. More and more until close to a hundred soldiers had ascended the wall.
Each of them found their comrades, alive and well, but staring in disbelief.
And they quickly joined them.
Even from this far away, they could see it.
The Dragon pushed the great boulder forward, trying to hold off a dozen Titans even with itself so preoccupied. Four large ones were trying to reach over the boulder, and one of them had grasped the horns on the left head, allowing another to also grab it. Even two Titans weren't strong enough to wretch the long neck forward, but it allowed another one the chance to bite at the neck. The head roared, the Titan's teeth gnawing on its scales as relatively small amounts of a black liquid bled from the golden beast.
The dragon pushed forward, taking care to step on a four meter Titan trying to grab its leg. Its right head reached out, snapping its jaws onto a ten meter Titan that had gotten on the roof next to him. It yanked the Titan off, barreling it into the crowd in front of the boulder, freeing the other head and allowing it to slam its neck against the building and dislodge the biting Titan. The wounded head quickly and angrily bit out the nape of its former attacker.
Seven Titans of varying size were to its rear, its tails flailing randomly and wildly, none of the three heads able to dedicate the focus to direct the tails to be more lethal. Titans were knocked over, shredded and amputated, but most just regenerated the damage and continued their attack without pause. Two had already made it beyond the tails, fallen over and trying to nibble and gnaw on the backside while the heads were too busy.
With every minute, more black and oily blood tarnished its golden form. Yet, it kept moving forward.
Realistically, nothing had changed for the soldiers on the wall. They still didn't want to die here to the Titans. They still didn't want to trust this unknown creature with their lives. They still wanted to run.
Many shook, turning as if in a desire to leave.
But...
"Mankind has never been closer to its first victory against the Titans!" Pixis continued, his voice carrying over all of them, be they below or on the wall. "And it has not even been by our own blood and tears, but on the back of an unexpected ally. Whether it succeeds or fails, we will have already lost if it does so alone. If we must die, let it be without regret! Let it be knowing that when an ally with the power to stand against the Titans emerged in this cruel world, we did not turn tail as it fought for us!"
Sometimes, when people see someone fighting twice as hard as anyone else for a shared cause, it was hard not to feel inspired…to feel the urge to aide them. Even if it was someone they didn't trust; or, sometimes, especially so.
Connie and Sasha frowned as they recalled this morning. Everyone telling Eren how they were going to join the Scouts, after that little graduation speech he gave. Now Eren and most of the rest from the memory were dead...
The two cadets, deemed the most comical of the 104th, shared a look as if reading one another's mind. They had some comrades to avenge, to make this day worthy of their sacrifices.
Zwei was very glad for how tough their hide was. For all the biting the titans were managing to do, most of their wounds were only surface level. Almost like papercuts. Unfortunately, those papercuts were adding up, namely from the ones they hadn't been able to dislodge pecking away at his flesh. It was like they were scrapping away at ice, but being ice in that situation hurt like hell!
Fortunately, pain can fuel anger and hate, and they were essentially running on those now. Eins was almost silent besides his roars for blood and death, while Zwei had completely tuned him and Drei out, the third head doing damage control where he could, pushing things along almost mindlessly between kills.
They were almost half way there now. Just a bit further and he could turn his full attention to slaughtering these senseless creatures.
Or as many as they-
The Titans fell from his backside, dead.
[What?!]
[[Who!?]]
[[[How and Hell?!]]]
All three of them noticed a human soldier blur through the air from their backside, flying over the building to their left…a human with black hair and a flash of red.
[[[[MIKASA!?]]]]
"Yo, Trips! Hang in there, the backup has arrived!" Connie called down, zooming over the bolder and distracting three Titans who tried to follow after him for now.
[[[Baldie?]]]
[[Connie.]]
[Why are they all HERE!?]
Drei resisted the urge to enjoy that Eins's anger sounded more concerned than upset, but he was too busy taking stock of the situation, watching as humans charged through the air.
As was someone else.
Armin gritted his teeth, trying to think this situation through. The plan was simple, but its effectiveness was limited now. There were three teams. One group was busy distracting and luring Titans away from the dragon and its path, leading them to the walls. But at least half the Titans left in Trost were already starting to gather and clump up in groups within one-to-two blocks of the three headed beast.
That was where the second, largest group came in: their job was to do the same, lead the titans away, but unlike the first group, they were to engage with the Titans and try to keep as many from their new ally as possible.
The final team, the most elite veterans and skilled members of the 104th were deployed with the express role of aiding the dragon directly, be it killing the Titans that managed to get on it or just distract them to give the dragon a chance to kill the Titan in question.
All the while said beast was trying to keep the boulder moving.
But with Titans, no plan went perfectly.
'Dammit! Commander Pixis was right, retreating definitely isn't an option now. It's already injured and there's no telling if it could survive taking on that many Titans at once, even without being preoccupied with the boulder. But people are dropping like flies because of how close the Titans are all together. If only we had a-' Armin blinked as he remembered the armory and the Titans being stunned. 'It hasn't used that roar again. Could Sasha be right...?'
Zwei was happy to say that he could hear Eins and Drei again and that the bleeding felt like it had stopped already. But he wasn't sure how manageable this situation really was. True, the humans were relieving a lot of pressure. Yet, the soldiers were falling left and right to Titan jaws. And it was pissing them off, even- no, especially Drei as the humans died while they themselves were forced to do nothing to stop the slaughter, only able to keep pushing the rock forward.
And all the while, their hatred burned in their throats, all three of them.
"Hey!"
There was an instant, when time seemed to slow before they looked to their left. There, they spotted Armin, looking up at them with a glare that didn't reach his eyes.
End of Chapter
Okay, there we go! And I'm officially rumbling canon, lol. Nobody knows Eren is human, Eren did the boulder thing early for valid reasons but with mixed results. This is still AoT, not everything is going to go Eren's way.
I'm sure the ending with the soldiers being rallied by the sight of Minidorah's desperate, determined march was a bit corny, but I liked the imagery and I feel it works. Minidorah clearly isn't a titan, and they can SEE him trying to close the breach. There's also them realizing in canon that their families will all die if Wall Rose falls, but they have a clear and better hope from this.
Hope you are all enjoying this, the final manga chapters, and the start of the Final Season.
Next chapter, we find out what Armin is planning.
Stay safe everyone. Lot of people in my family got Covid. No one in my household, but the ones that got it, some got it bad.
p a treon . com (slash) akumakami64