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The world lay still, a frozen tableau of sheer impossibility, draped in an eerie silence. At the heart of a vast crater, surrounded by the steaming remnants of the Beast Titan and the fading echoes of a dozen smaller monstrosities, a broken boy lay unconscious on a bed of jagged earth. Towering over him like an unsettling guardian was the fifteen-meter specter who had just wrought massacre upon his friends—the Female Titan.
One by one, the survivors of the Scout Regiment descended, forming a ragged, disbelieving circle around the chilling scene. Their minds, already splintered by the revelation of betrayal, struggled to process the grotesque sight before them. It unfolded like a paradox too profound to grasp, a waking nightmare from which they could not escape.
Levi was the first to touch down, his movements a symphony of lethal precision, his face a mask of ice-cold fury. His gaze was laser-focused on one thing: the exposed enemy, vulnerable and within striking distance of their most precious asset. His blades materialized in his hands as swiftly as his feet hit the ground, steel gleaming with a deadly promise.
"She killed them! She killed our squad!" Jean crashed down next, his voice a choked, anguished roar that echoed in the heavy silence. He faltered, his legs nearly buckling beneath him, his eyes fixated on the blonde Titan, Annie Leonhart's familiar visage now warped into a grotesque mask of monstrosity in his mind. "What is she doing?! What the hell is going on?!" He stumbled forward, blades raised high, fury coursing through him. "GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU BITCH!"
Yet it was Mikasa who absorbed the scene with a clarity that felt like exquisite torture. Her Ki Sense erupted like a wild storm, a battlefield of conflicting energies that threatened to tear her apart. She sensed the faint, flickering ember of Akira's life force, a delicate spark in a vast ocean of darkness, so fragile it seemed a mere breath could extinguish it forever. And intertwined with it was the chaotic, powerful energy of the monster shielding him—not the frigid, murderous aura they had faced before, but a raging inferno of fear, desperation, and an unwavering protectiveness aimed solely at the boy lying helplessly on the ground.
She landed softly between Jean and the Female Titan, her heart pounding like a wild drum against her ribs. The woman she loathed more than anyone in the world was now the only barrier standing between her beloved and the looming specter of death. The sheer contradiction of the moment was a physical torment, a blade twisting mercilessly in her gut.
---
Annie, inside the nape of her steaming Titan, saw them coming. She saw the fury in Levi's eyes, the grief in Jean's, the soul-tearing conflict on Mikasa's face. She knew she couldn't fight them all, not in her damaged state, not while trying to protect him. Her mission was a catastrophic failure. Reiner and Bertholdt were gone. She was alone, a traitor surrounded by enemies, her only purpose now narrowed to a single, illogical, and overwhelming instinct: keep him safe.
She couldn't speak. She couldn't explain. But she had to make them understand.
Her Titan form slowly and deliberately turned its head, its intelligent blue eyes locking onto Mikasa's. It was a gaze that cut through the chaos, a silent conversation between two rivals who loved the same broken boy. She held Mikasa's gaze for a long, eternal moment. Then, she subtly, almost imperceptibly, shook her head. A single, desperate plea that needed no words.
Stay back. Don't make me fight you. Let me protect him.
Mikasa's breath hitched. She understood. She understood the plea, and she understood the impossible truth behind it. Her mind was at war with her heart, her duty at war with her love. Her hand, gripping the hilt of her blade, trembled.
"What are you waiting for, Mikasa?!" Jean screamed from beside her. "She's wide open! Let's kill her!"
"No," Mikasa whispered, her voice barely audible. She didn't lower her blades, but she didn't advance. She had become a statue of pure, agonizing conflict.
---
From the top of the wall, the god of destruction made his final move.
The Colossal Titan, Bertholdt, had served his purpose. He had created the chaos needed for the escape. Now, it was time to create the ultimate distraction.
With a deep, groaning sound that seemed to tear through the very fabric of reality, his massive, sixty-meter body went limp. He began to fall, a slow-motion avalanche of flesh and steam, a living nuke aimed squarely at the battlefield below. The sight was one of apocalyptic grandeur, a god committing suicide to cover the sins of his friends.
"INCOMING!" Erwin's roar cut through the standoff. "HE'S COMING DOWN! EVERYONE, FALL BACK! NOW! MOVE!"
The spell was broken. The impossible standoff was instantly forgotten, replaced by a new, more primal terror. The soldiers screamed, their faces turning towards the horrifying sight of the falling god, a mountain of death about to obliterate them all. They fired their ODM gear, a frantic, desperate scramble to escape the blast radius.
---
In the heart of that rising panic, the Armored Titan made his escape. With Erin still held tight in his grasp, Reiner pushed himself to his feet. He gave one last, conflicted look back at the scene—at the falling Colossal, at the kneeling Female Titan, at the broken boy she was protecting. Then, with a grunt of grim resolve, he turned and ran, a fifteen-meter cannonball of hate and duty, disappearing into the smoke and chaos.
Annie saw him go. She saw her mission, her comrades, her entire life, running away from her. This was her last chance. She could follow him. She could complete her mission.
But her gaze dropped to the small, fragile human form at her feet. She saw his battered face, the blood on his lips, the way his chest barely rose and fell with each shallow breath. She remembered his quiet words in the training yard, his gentle touch adjusting her stance even as she threatened to kill him. She remembered the sorrow in his eyes as he stood as a crimson shield, protecting her from his own friends.
She made her choice.
Her heart, for the first time in a long time, was her own.
As the shadow of the falling Colossal Titan began to consume them, she didn't run. She acted. With a surprising gentleness, she scooped up Akira's unconscious body, cradling him to her Titan's chest. Then, she hardened her entire body, her skin crystallizing into a brilliant, diamond-like shell, and braced for impact.
---
The world became a wall of white-hot steam and thunder. The impact of the Colossal Titan was not a simple crash; it was an explosion, a concussive blast that flattened what was left of the forest and sent a shockwave of superheated air racing across the plains. The very ground buckled and split, the sound a deafening roar that shook the foundations of the world.
When the dust and steam finally began to clear, the world was a landscape of apocalyptic devastation. Erwin and Levi landed on the edge of a massive, smoking crater, their faces grim masks of soot and failure.
"Status report!" Erwin barked.
"The Beast Titan's body is here, headless," Levi reported, his voice a low growl. "The Colossal is gone... vaporized. And Reiner... he's gone too."
"And Erin?" Erwin asked, his voice tight.
Levi's silence was the only answer they needed.
Mikasa landed beside them, her face a pale, emotionless mask that was more terrifying than any scream. Her eyes scanned the crater, searching, desperate. "Akira..." she whispered, the name a prayer.
And then they saw it.
Through the swirling steam, a figure began to resolve. It was still there. In the center of the devastation, having weathered the storm, the Female Titan was still kneeling. Her crystal armor was shattered and cracked, her own body steaming and heavily damaged from the blast, but she had not moved. She was still a shield. As they watched, the crystal shell around her dissolved, and she gently placed Akira's still-unconscious body back on the scorched earth.
"She's still here," Jean gasped, landing nearby, his voice a mixture of awe and confusion. "She... she protected him from that?"
"What the hell is she playing at?" Levi snarled, raising his blades. "It's a trap. All squads, prepare to—"
"Wait."
The word was not a command. It was a weak, strained, and utterly broken rasp.
From the protective space the Female Titan had created, a figure stirred. Akira, his body trembling with a pain that was almost inhuman, had pushed himself up onto one elbow. His face was a mess of blood and bruises, his blue eyes cloudy with agony, but they were open. And they were fixed on Levi.
He used the last, final ounce of his strength, the last flickering ember of his Ki, to give his own impossible order.
"Don't... Attack her..." he gasped, his voice cracking, a single, perfect tear tracing a path through the grime on his cheek. "...she is now on our side...."
And with that final, desperate plea, his eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed, finally succumbing to the welcoming, painless dark.
The chapter ends there. On the silent, impossible, and heartbreaking stalemate. The hero has fallen. The traitor is his only shield. And the world no longer makes any sense at all.
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•To Be Continue•
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