Chapter 102: Mikasa, Make a Contract With Me and Become a Magical Girl!
Marleyan Empire, Liberio Internment Zone, Urban Combat Area.
Midnight. The acrid smell of blood mixed with smoke stung the nostrils.
Mikasa's breath came in ragged gasps, her chest heaving. In her peripheral vision, Jean, Connie, and Sasha lay in pools of their own blood, their twitching growing weaker. Life was draining away.
Before her stood the little girl in the red and black military-style dress—Gabi. Her face was smeared with blood, but her eyes burned with a crazed hatred. Her arm was raised again, an ominous crimson light gathering in her palm. The harbinger of death.
Nearby, the white, doll-like creature sat quietly. Kyubey.
Its voice echoed directly in Mikasa's mind, cold and emotionless.
[Do you want… to save them?]
Mikasa snapped back to attention, her eyes locking onto Kyubey. "You?! Was this your doing?!"
Kyubey didn't answer. Its round red eyes didn't even look at Mikasa, instead turning towards Gabi on the rooftop, who was gathering power again.
[If you don't decide quickly, your comrades are going to die. That child… doesn't look like she's going to stop.]
Every second stretched into an eternity. Her friends' lives were slipping through her fingers. The next attack was about to fall.
"Mikasa! Look out!!!" Hange's anxious roar came from high above. Two figures using ODM gear were diving down at high speed—Erwin and Hange! They had clearly noticed the sudden turn of events here and were rushing over.
"Damn it!!!" Gabi, seeing the reinforcements, grew even more vicious. She had to kill this black-haired female devil before they arrived! The crimson energy in her hand coalesced into a net of countless beams, shooting straight for Mikasa! The aura of destruction rushed towards her!
In the nick of time!!!
"MIKASA—!!!"
In that instant between life and death, an incredibly familiar voice, without any warning, shot through Mikasa's consciousness like an electric current.
It was Eren!!! His thoughts, crossing the chaotic battlefield, had connected to her mind!
[MIKASA!!!] His voice was filled with an unprecedented urgency, even… a tremor she had never heard before. [Quick!!! Make a wish!!! Or it'll be too late!!! Use your wish!!! Save them and gain power at the same time!!! QUICK—!!!]
Right before her was that—that white creature that could grant any wish! Save them! Gain power! Protect Eren!
There was no time to think about the cost! No time to hesitate about the source!
"Jean, Connie, Sasha—" Before she could finish shouting their names, the deadly attack arrived. Countless beams tore through the air, instantly piercing her neck and vital organs. Her head rolled off, her vision spinning wildly. But in the final moment before her consciousness plunged into darkness, the wish reached Kyubey's mind.
[Instantly… fully… restore…]
[The contract is made.]
A blinding light erupted from Mikasa's severed head.
The light shone!!!
The light roared!!!
The power born from the wish for restoration defied the immense magic required to reconstruct a body, forcibly reversing the finality of death. The severed neck, the shredded organs—they rapidly reformed in the torrent of light, mending, rebirthing. The light consumed the scattered remains. Where she had stood, a complete, unharmed body was reconstructed, radiating an energy not of this world.
…
Meanwhile, at the edge of the plaza ruins, the Magical Armored Titan Reiner silently endured Eren's relentless assault. The grey-white multiple Shields of Annihilation continuously shattered and regenerated, the deathly energy stubbornly resisting the green fury. Reiner's head remained bowed. The chaos of the outside world seemed distant. Eren's angry roars, the thud of giant fists on his shields, the distant explosions, the relieved cries of his comrades… all faded into a blur.
Deep in his consciousness, only one thought circled endlessly. Quiet… Die… End it quickly…
He felt the corruption in his Soul Gem breeding wildly. In sync with his current state of mind, the grey-white light was being rapidly devoured by a thick darkness. He didn't care. He even faintly looked forward to the moment it was completely extinguished.
"Reiner! Fight back! Reiner!" Porco's voice came from nearby.
"Hold on!" Pieck's voice also called out, urgent and weary. "Reiner, how did you get this power? Can you still move?!"
Reiner didn't respond. He couldn't hear them; he had found his quiet. Hey!! Reiner, answer us!!!
His consciousness was enveloped by the wish for "annihilation." An intention emanated from him, fragmented, yet unyieldingly resolute.
[Go… Go quickly… Take… whoever is still alive… leave this place… Quickly…]
Porco and Pieck froze. Reiner's voice sounded… so distant. He wasn't listening to them at all!
"Reiner! Can you hear me?!" Porco yelled anxiously.
[Go…] The intention came again, weaker, but even more stubborn.
Pieck looked at Reiner's bowed Titan head, then at Eren, still attacking furiously in the distance. She gritted her teeth. "Porco! We're leaving!"
"But Reiner—"
"He seems… unresponsive… He wants us to go! We'll take the others and retreat first! Trust him!"
Porco looked at the grey-white Magical Armored Titan. Finally, he closed his eyes in pain and nodded. They began gathering the surviving Marleyan soldiers and terrified civilians behind Reiner, retreating away from the center of the plaza.
No one noticed that the grey-white dress phantom on Reiner was becoming even more tattered and dim. The massive grey-white Soul Gem on his chest… its light was now incredibly faint, only a flickering ember at its core, ready to go out at any moment.
…
On the street.
The instant Mikasa's wish was granted, Jean, Connie, and Sasha, lying in pools of their own blood, had their fatal wounds heal at a visible speed. Gushing blood stopped instantly. Color returned to their pale faces. Their weak breaths became steady and strong. In the blink of an eye, the three went from near-death to perfectly unharmed.
"Huh—" Jean was the first to sit up, clutching his chest where a hole had been just moments before, his face a mask of shock and confusion. "I'm… I'm alive?"
"What happened?!" Connie also pushed himself up, staring at his intact abdomen in disbelief.
Sasha leaped to her feet, touching her chest and taking deep breaths, her eyes wide with the relief of survival. "I'm okay! I'm really okay! I thought I'd never eat meat again!!!"
On the rooftop.
Gabi was about to swing her arm down, unleashing another round of crimson beams…