"Careful—watch it."
People atop the Wall used elevators to haul up supplies. Everyone had already withdrawn and regrouped on the Wall.
Those who had fought were exhausted, and the reinforcements were relieved to learn the Wall hadn't been breached. Still, the existence of an intelligent Titan weighed heavily on everyone's mind.
At the moment, however, what drew the most attention was the group standing off to the side—the Scout Regiment's senior officers, deep in discussion with Lillian.
"That 'Beast Titan' also came from Marley, right?" Erwin asked. "Do you know its objective?"
Lillian shook his head. "I don't."
Hange pushed up her glasses and analyzed aloud. "We still have far too little information. Based on what you told us earlier, Lillian, there should be Marleyan warships docked somewhere along the island's edge right now, correct?"
"Yes."
"Damn it. If only we could cross the plains… If we could capture the people on that ship—no, what we really need is the ship itself. We need the technology to sail the seas."
"Exactly," Erwin nodded. "The true gap between us and Marley lies in science and technology. You've said it yourself, Lillian—the world's technology is advancing rapidly, and Titans will eventually be rendered obsolete."
"…"
Lillian silently agreed. That was true—but the deterrent power of Titans would still last for some time.
Besides, technological development within the Walls simply couldn't happen in the short term.
Timing, geography, human factors—none of these could be missing. Scientific progress wasn't absolutely determined by social or political systems. There was no such thing as "people in democratic societies being inherently more brilliant."
Take the Industrial Revolution, for example. Why didn't it occur within the Walls? Or earlier in the East?
The most critical reason wasn't political systems—it was natural resources. Specifically: rubber.
Without rubber for sealing, steam engines couldn't be invented. Rubber was a tropical product, unavailable in the East. And on Paradis Island—a near-isolated "peach blossom utopia"—there was no access to external resources at all. An industrial revolution here was simply impossible.
Yet because the Walls possessed rare resources like Iceburst Stone and Black Bamboo, they were able to create the ODM gear—technology the outside world couldn't comprehend.
Natural resources dictated the direction of productive forces.
And beyond that, the Walls suffered from another fatal flaw: population.
Barely a million people.
With numbers that small, no form of productivity could truly flourish. There was no possibility of competition—let alone equality—with major powers. Especially once global technology advanced further. If the world reached something akin to Earth's World War II era…
Paradis Island would be nothing more than a lamb waiting for slaughter.
At present, the world's level of technology was roughly equivalent to that of World War I. But how long had it taken to advance from World War I to World War II?
On Earth, it had taken barely twenty years—and in this world, it would only be faster.
With the entire world locked in a state of war, everything would yield to military industry. Under such circumstances, military technology would advance at breakneck speed. At that rate, the people inside the Walls could probably rely on the Titans to barely survive for at most twenty years—and that was assuming the nations of the world were still fighting one another. If they were to unite, form an alliance, and jointly decide to carve up the island's resources, that time would shrink even further.
Achieving a leap in technological development within such a short window was, in theory, almost impossible. Unless one special condition were met: a powerful nation was willing to become your ally and directly transfer its technology to you. That would eliminate the need for long-term research and dramatically shorten development time.
But powerful nations weren't fools. Giving away technology for free was out of the question. There would inevitably be strings attached—conditions, exchanges. As for what those conditions might be, that was uncertain. Of course, that wasn't something Lillian needed to consider right now.
He was, after all, just an ordinary person. He didn't possess the kind of power that could destroy the world, and thus had no way to resist the tide of the times. Still, no matter what, he would do his best. Even if he didn't feel much attachment to the world inside the Walls as a whole, there were certain people within them whom he truly cared about.
"And since the Wall wasn't breached," Hange said slowly, stopping mid-sentence, "then those Titans must have been…"
"It's likely they were villagers from Connie's hometown," Lillian said. "When he went back before, everyone in the village had disappeared. And the houses showed signs of being destroyed from the inside, as if something had burst out. Of course, I didn't tell him that."
Levi's expression turned icy as he looked at Erwin. "We're not just going to let those bastards get away, are we?"
"Levi, calm down. We don't have the ability to pursue them right now," Erwin replied, still composed. Tragedies like this didn't seem to shake him much—likely a result of his iron will. If others knew that the Titans they'd killed were once people from their own villages, they might not even be able to raise their blades.
Lillian, however, didn't have that problem. He had already come to terms with it.
Once an Eldian without Titan powers transformed into a Titan, there was no way to turn back.
Their bodies fused completely with Titan flesh—there was no separation possible. The process was irreversible. And even Eldians who did possess Titan powers could cross from "reversible" to "irreversible" if they transformed too frequently. For example, when Eren conducted hardening experiments, he had forced himself to transform repeatedly despite being exhausted. That deepened the fusion and pushed him closer to irreversibility.
"Let's return and regroup first," Erwin said, though his gaze drifted toward the recruits of the 104th Cadet Corps.
Off to the side, everyone was either sitting or lying down, waiting for orders. Reiner and Bertholdt, however, were standing apart, talking quietly.
Lillian's eyes settled on the two of them as well. At the same time, he equipped ODM gear.
"Reiner… are we really going to do this?!" Bertholdt asked.
"Once we return inland, who knows how long it'll be before we get another chance," Reiner replied, looking at him. "Bertholdt, I don't want to stay here anymore. We've been here… far too long."
"..."
After speaking, Reiner walked toward Eren and called out to him. "Eren, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Damn it…
Lillian finished adjusting his gear, realizing that Reiner was going through with it after all. Even with Commander Erwin and Captain Levi present—he was still going to do it.
The moment that became clear, Lillian immediately looked toward Annie.
She stood six or seven meters away, staring at Reiner and Eren. Her face was deathly pale, her pupils unnaturally dilated. It was the first time Lillian had ever seen such an expression on her face. Clearly, she didn't agree with this plan—but she had no power to stop it.
"I have something to tell you," Reiner said.
"Huh?" Eren replied, curious. Since Annie's incident hadn't happened in this timeline, the Scout Regiment had no suspicions about Reiner or Bertholdt. Which meant that, unlike in the original story, Eren had absolutely no mental preparation for this.
Reiner spoke calmly. "Five years ago, we began destroying the Walls and attacking humanity."
Lillian stepped in front of Annie. She snapped back to herself and looked at him.
No words were needed. Lillian's eyes asked the question plainly: Which side will you choose?
But Annie couldn't answer.
Erwin watched Reiner talking to Eren and frowned slightly, signaling to Levi.
Having worked together for years, Levi understood immediately. His hands dropped to the hilts of his blades.
"I'm the Armored Titan," Reiner said, pointing at Bertholdt. "He's the Colossal Titan." Then he added, "Annie is the Female Titan."
"Wha—" Eren's face finally changed, disbelief flooding his expression as he stared at them.
"He's telling the truth, Eren," Bertholdt said with a furrowed brow. "We really are Titans."
"Our original goal was to completely wipe out humanity. But now, that's no longer necessary. As long as you come back with us, we won't destroy the Walls anymore. Do you understand?"
Eren stared blankly at him, his words tumbling out incoherently. "Re—Reiner… Bertholdt… what are you even saying? And Annie… there's no way she could be—"
"You just need to come with us. If you do, the people inside the Walls can be saved."
"Hah?!" Eren let out a hollow, disbelieving laugh. "Reiner, Bertholdt… you're kidding, right? Hey—don't tell me it's because yesterday on the tower was too much pressure and now you've both lost it? Right? That's it, isn't it?!"
"No," Reiner replied. "I'm not joking."
Eren stared at Reiner's utterly serious expression and asked, "If that's true—if all of this is really true—then you broke the Walls and killed so many people… there's no way I could just nod and say, 'Sure, let's go,' right?"
"..."
Reiner froze for a few seconds. Then he covered his head with one hand—and laughed.
"Yeah… what am I thinking?" he muttered. "Right now, I'm a warrior. Bertholdt, you were right. Maybe… when I get back home, I really should see a psychiatrist."
"Reiner?!"
"It's because I stayed here too long…" Reiner said softly. "Living with a bunch of idiots for three years… I ended up becoming an immature person myself."
His expression hardened, his gaze completely different from before. At the moment he made this decision, his three years of friendship with the 104th Cadet Corps was utterly severed.
"But—"
Reiner picked up a rock from the ground and slammed it into his own head. Blood instantly poured out, running into his mouth.
"But I still have to shoulder my duty as a warrior!" he roared.
"Until death!"
Buzz—!
Levi and Mikasa moved at the same time. Levi was faster—he charged the instant Reiner struck his head! Just as light began to erupt from Reiner's body, Levi's blade sliced cleanly through his nape!
"REINER!!"
Bertholdt cried out in shock. Mikasa also struck at him, but her resolve and speed were inferior to Levi's. She severed only the arm Bertholdt raised to block—and in the very next second, his body burst into light!
A massive wave of steam exploded outward, forcing both Levi and Mikasa back!
At least one of them was dealt with!
That thought flashed through everyone's minds as they rushed forward—
But in the next instant, they were horrified to see light erupting from Reiner's body as well.
How was that possible?!
His head had clearly been—!
And at that moment, Bertholdt still hadn't fully transformed. In the instant before he completely lost the ability to speak, he shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Annie! What are you waiting for?!"
Slash!
In an instant, everyone's gaze snapped toward Annie.
For the first time, they saw hesitation on her face—confusion, inner conflict, struggle, even helplessness…
And standing right in front of her was Lillian.
Buzz—!
Levi was the first to react.
His blade flashed, swinging straight toward Annie!
"Lillian, move!"