Age of Titans Chapter 8 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Age of Titans! Reiner and Bertholdt have made their move and they did it without telling Annie anything! That shows that they don’t trust her, and that’s not good. Eren stares down Bertholdt after the Prime Colossal Titan holder kicks in the gates of Trost! Can Eren deal with Bertholdt here and now, or will he have to try and find the two enemies on the battlefield to take them down while they’re in human form?

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 8 – Battle for Trost Begins

“Too battle!” One of the Garrison soldiers roared as all of the ones that had been knocked off the wall by the sudden appearance of the Colossal Titan arrived. They crested the top of the wall with trails of gas behind them and landed to face the sixty-meter Titan with their swords drawn.

The Colossal Titan lifted its right arm, slowly by human standards, but given how massive it was, the speed was to be expected. When it swung forward, clearly aiming to kill them all with a swipe of it hand, it left a trail of steam behind it as the red flesh began to blur when it picked up speed.  Everything the massive hand touched shattered: the masonry, the cannons, the rails that the cannons used for mobility, everything was destroyed by the unstoppable force.

“Incoming!” Eren warned everyone and the yell snapped them all into action. Most jumped back over the edge of the wall to avoid the swipe. But a few used their gas to launch themselves into the air high enough to get over the Colossal Titan’s attack.

“What the hell?!” Connie, one of the ones to launch himself upward, yelled to be heard over the rushing wind caused by the swing. “Did it just aim for the cannons?!”

“Is it intelligent enough to understand what they are?!” Thomas called back, equally loud to be heard.

“It’s still slow though!” Eren roared to get their attention. “Aim for the nape! If we kill it now the walls can’t be broken anymore!” He fired his ODM Gear wires into the flesh of Bertholdt’s Titan and flew forward at speed.

“Right!” Sasha copied his tactic, but in the opposite direction to split Bertholdt’s focus.

“Let’s go above!” Mina cried out to Connie and Thomas.

“Yeah!” Both men agreed while launching their own wires. A burst of compressed gas saw all three new soldiers rocketing into the air and over the Colossal Titan’s head.

Surely a five-pronged attack would take it down, right?!

As the five soldiers sped around the sixty-meter Titan’s body to aim for its nape, the one inside ground his teeth. None of them had been killed by his sudden appearance or his initial strike. Now they were coming from too many directions for him to even try to defend against! His Titan Form was simply too slow.

‘Damn it…’ Bertholdt cursed in his mind. ‘Sorry Reiner, I wasn’t able to deal with all of the cannons on top of the wall. But I got the ones that were closest to the gate and broke through the wall, so I’ve fulfilled my part of the plan.’ He triggered the destruction of his Titan body and exited amid the massive burst of steam that exploded off the now empty shell.

“Hot!” Connie cried out as the sudden blast of steam caught them off guard.

“It burns!” Mina cried out as she closed one of her eyes and only squinted through the other.

“Damn it, I can’t see!” Thomas cursed as visibility instantly dropped to nothing.

“Shit!” Eren and Sasha had both just swiped their swords through the nape a second after the steam blast went off, having been nearly knocked off course and having to use a large amount of their compressed gas to fight against the shockwave.

“Where’d it go?!” Sasha barely managed to keep from asking where ‘he’ went as her brown eyes scanned the area for Bertholdt.

“It’s gone!” Eren called back loudly so that everyone could hear him. ‘How the hell did Bertholdt slip past us? We were only slowed down by a few seconds! He has to be in the steam somewhere!’ But no matter how hard he looked he saw no trace of the other Titan Shifter.

“How does it just appear and disappear like that?!” Connie demanded as they all saw the impressions left in the dirt by the Colossal Titan’s feet. All five of them were hanging off the wall by their ODM Gear.

“It’s like magic…” Mina shook her head at the disappearance of the sixty-meter Titan. What she couldn’t have known was that Colossal Types put off so much heat that their bodies could disintegrate the fastest of any Type. The flesh and bones burned away into gray ash that mixed with the massive clouds of steam and wiped away any trace of a Colossal Titan’s body in mere moments.

“Forget magic, it broke the gate!” Thomas pointed one of his swords down at the gaping hole in the Trost District’s outer gate.

“You five get back up here!” One of the Garrison soldiers yelled down to the five of them. “The strategy for dealing with a Colossal Titan appearance is already in motion! Report to your posts immediately!”

“Since you engaged the Colossal Titan directly, make sure to give your reports directly to the Garrison Leader at your posts!” A second older soldier ordered the five new soldiers. “We’re going to have another Titan incursion if we can’t hold the gate! Now get going!”

“Sir!” All five saluted before using their ODM Gear to repel down the wall and then across rooftops. They had to get to the main Garrison post at Wall Rose as fast as possible.

The loud ringing of a bell was the alarm for a wall breach. It rang out through Trost and sent the people into a near panic immediately. The streets that had been peaceful not ten minutes ago, were now flooded with people trying to get to Wall Rose. Garrison soldiers were moving heavy blockades with horses and wagons to build a makeshift barricade in the eight meter tall hole in the outer gate. Already cannons were set up and aiming at the hole ready to be fired at the first sign of Titans trying to enter the district. During all of this, multiple Garrison soldiers were trying to direct the rushing people.

“Leave all material possessions behind!”

“Please, evacuate calmly!”

The second instruction was ignored entirely by the mass of terrified people trying to get through the gate and into Wall Rose.

-Trost Garrison Headquarters-

“Regrettably, the Survey Corps, which have the most actual combat experience, is outside the wall on an exploratory expedition. Therefore, we in the Garrison are currently alone in repairing the wall and preparing for an incursion.” The Head of the Trost Garrison informed the newly graduated soldiers as they refilled their gas canisters, restocked their blades if needed, and finished any other preparations necessary. “You are no longer trainees! Having graduated from the Cadet Corps, you are all soldiers now!” He raised his voice above the din. “This is your first operation, but we expect you to contribute!”

“Don’t worry, Hannah, I’ll protect you.” Franz held Hannah’s hands as he tried to give her a reassuring smile.

“Franz…” Hannah leaned into him, not giving a damn who saw at this point.

Mikasa only heard the short conversation in passing as she met up with Eren, Sasha, Krista, Ymir, Historia, and Armin. Looking between them, she saw they all had troubled looks on their faces. Already fairly certain of the answer, she decided to ask the question anyway. “Annie is trying to get answers out of Reiner and Bertholdt, right?”

“Yes.” Ymir nodded with a grimace. “They didn’t tell her about this at all.”

“That means they don’t trust her.” Armin looked worried that some other plan could already be in motion without them knowing anything about it.

“She did everything she could to keep up her role though. Why would they suddenly stop trusting her?” Krista looked between them with confusion in her blue eyes.

“Maybe they thought she was too close to us?’ Sasha guessed after a moment of silence. “It’s the only thing that I can think of.”

“We need to deal with them as soon as we can.” Eren spoke, his green eyes filled with an unshakeable determination. “If they no longer trust Annie, then we have no way to know what they’re planning or thinking. They’re nothing but a threat now.”

“How do you want to do it, Eren?” Mikasa looked into his eyes, her gaze steady, but her eyes showing the love she had for Eren. It never failed to calm Eren down a bit when he looked into her eyes.

“Capturing the Prime Armor and the Prime Colossal powers is the goal, isn’t it?” Ymir looked at Eren. “If we just kill them both, then we can’t be sure where the powers will end up.”

“I’ve made some progress with the Prime Founding Titan…but I’m not sure it would be enough to take control of the powers and then give them to others of our choosing.” Eren looked annoyed at his own lack of progress. “Krista and I should be able to stop them from transforming though.”

“I’ll do my best.” Krista nodded to Eren. The fact that she was a Lesser Shifter might give Bertholdt and Reiner some leverage to resist her Founding Type abilities. That’s why she’d target Reiner specifically. The large man had made very little effort in hiding that he held some kind of feelings for her. She’d use those against him to make sure that he couldn’t transform.

“We all know you’ll succeed, Krista.” Ymir pulled her into a side hug.

-Annie, Bertholdt, Reiner-

“Are you two fucking insane?” Annie nearly growled at the two Marley soldiers. “You just decide to break through the walls again without even warning me? What if I was on top of the wall today?”

“We checked to make sure, Annie, I promise.” Bertholdt was quick to try and diffuse the cold anger he could see in Annie’s blue eyes.

“Suppose we had told you, what guarantee do we have that our plan wouldn’t have been leaked?” Reiner narrowed his eyes at the blonde woman.

“Are you questioning my loyalty?” Annie raised an eyebrow at him dispassionately.

“Why shouldn’t we?” Reiner took a step forward. “You’ve gotten way too close to your little friends here over the last three years.”

“You’re one to talk, Reiner.” Annie glared at him. “You’ve made no effort to hide your feelings for Krista. Is she not one of the ‘wall devils’ just because you find her cute?” Annie made a mental note to apologize to Krista later for the name-calling.

“That’s nothing! It’s completely different!” Reiner took a half-step back at the accusation.

“I’ve been building up my cover for the last few years.” Annie snapped at the other blonde sharply. “You’ve been mooning over a girl from the walls, and not even to better blend in, but for lust.” Her eyes were like ice as she dared Reiner to make any kind of excuse. Reiner’s jaw clicked shut sharply and his fists clenched at Annie’s words.

“Annie, we’re sorry that we suspected you, we really are.” Bertholdt tried to play mediator. “It just looked like you were ‘going native’ as the saying goes. We were worried, that’s all. We’ve all been here for so long already. Aren’t we all a bit eager to finish this mission and go home?” The Prime Colossal Shifter explained.

Annie could tell that he was still siding with Reiner despite his words though. She wasn’t an idiot, nor was she blind. If Reiner desired Krista, then Bertholdt had feelings for Annie herself. She didn’t return them, had never returned them, or ever felt the same way about Bertholdt. She’d pretended not to notice to keep things simple over the last couple of years.

“Look,” Reiner ran a hand through his short hair. “I’m sorry we suspected you. But let’s move on with the next stage of this advance.”

“You’re going to charge through the gate in Wall Rose just like you did when we got here, right?” Annie guessed the plan easily enough. She didn’t expect Reiner to come up with anything new since that plan worked last time. Bertholdt wouldn’t speak up either if he had any ideas. He was a follower through and through. That was how Reiner had ended up as the de facto ‘leader’ of their trio to begin with.

“Yes, we need to advance the mission.” Reiner stated plainly. “If Wall Rose is lost, then everyone will have to retreat into Wall Sina. That means all of the island dwellers will be stuck in one small area. Since we’re all going to join the Military Police, we’ll practically have full access everywhere. That will make finding the Founding Titan easier.”

“Didn’t I already tell you that the supposed ‘King’ on the throne is a fake?” Annie sighed with a dull look in her eyes. “That man is barely aware of what’s going on around him at any given time. He’s probably just a body double for people to target.”

“As MPs we’ll be able to look into things easier though.” Bertholdt tried to further explain Reiner’s plan. “It shouldn’t be too hard to check through all of the high-ranking noble families for anything suspicious.”

“How do you plan to deal with the Pure Titans that’ll soon be swarming Trost?” Annie questioned the both of them. “A battlefield like this is going to be chaotic. Are you just going to try and hide or something? Even Warriors like us can’t guarantee that we wouldn’t be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Not unless you want Bertholdt to blast the entire area to nothing by transforming again.”

“We’ll be staying close to the wall surrounding Trost.” Bertholdt answered, his feelings for Annie making him more of an open book than Reiner would be. “As soon as enough Titans have entered Trost, Reiner will transform out of sight and then smash through the gate to Wall Rose. A retreat will be called shortly afterwards to alter the formation and try to slow the Titan incursion into Wall Rose. No one will suspect a thing in the chaos.”

“I’ve made this plan taking into account everything we learned about the Military’s new preventive measures while we were cadets. There’s very little that could cause an issue with it.” Reiner spoke up to defend the plan he’d made.

“Fine.” Annie rubbed her temples. “But do you even know where we’ll be deployed in Trost?”

“The middle guard most likely, since the Garrison soldiers are undoubtedly going to be the vanguard.” Reiner replied with his arms crossed. He knew Annie thought he was a bit of an idiot and he was going to prove her wrong today. “The Garrison’s Elite Unit will undoubtedly be the rearguard to protect the civilians and ensure their evacuation. It should only be a few Garrison soldiers and most of us newbies filling in the middle guard.”

“If that’s the case, don’t expect me to stay close by.” Annie looked between the two of them. “At the first call of retreat, I’m getting out of there. The only reason we’ll see each other is if I somehow get sent to the same area as you two.”

“That’s fine.” Reiner honestly didn’t care. Annie’s Titan wasn’t needed for this plan. Bertholdt had already fulfilled his part too. ‘I just need to break through the gate and Wall Rose is doomed as well. This plan is practically foolproof.’

‘Near the Trost walls, middle guard most likely. I’ll make sure to remember that.’ Annie kept the information clear and precise in her mind. The three left their meetup spot (really just an out of the way storage closet in the headquarters) and separated to not draw attention to themselves. Annie had plans of her own to make with her lovers to counter Reiner and Bertholdt. ‘And hopefully deal with both of them today too.’

-In Front of Trost Garrison Headquarters-

Seven Garrison Officers stood before the assembled new soldiers with grim looks on their faces. Behind them other Garrison soldiers were running around gathering necessary supplies or refilling their gas canisters and swords before rushing back towards the vanguard to hold back the Titans.

“Just like in your training, each squad will take a different street. You’re under Garrison command.” The Head of the Trost Garrison spoke loudly and clearly. “Your duties are support, communication, Titan killing, and whatever else is asked of you. The Garrison has already taken vanguard. You new soldiers will make up the majority of the middle guard. The Garrison’s Elite Unit will be the rearguard.” His eyes swept over the newbies with no warmth or expectation of their survival. “It’s time for us ‘freeloaders’ to pay our tab. We’ve gotta defend Wall Rose to the death…until every last man, woman, and child has safely evacuated.” His eyes narrowed at the shaking he saw among some of the new soldiers. “Oh, and as you know, deserting in the face of the enemy is a capital offense. Be prepared to sacrifice your lives, people.” The looks on the faces of the other Officers made it very clear that any deserters would be killed on the spot or as soon as they were found after the crisis. “Dismissed!”

“Yes sir!” All of the gathered soldiers saluted as the Officers left.

“Why? Why did it have to be today?” Jean was a mixture of fear, anger, and nausea. “I was supposed to go to the interior tomorrow!”

Other soldiers were also looking terrified, and in some cases, getting sick from their fear and nerves. Amid the ruckus of all the new soldiers trying not to panic as they prepared to head to the battlefield for the first time, Annie was able to find her group and they all slipped away to a quieter area out of sight.

“Are you okay, Annie?” Eren’s first question brought a small smile to Annie’s lips as he pulled her into a hug.

“I’m fine, Eren. I also found out about Reiner’s plan and where he and Bertholdt are likely to be during all of this.” Annie hugged him gently before they separated so that she could tell all of them what she’d learned.

“We need to be prepared to outright steal their powers if they’re going to retreat up the walls as soon as the signal is given.” Ymir gave her thoughts after learning of the Marley soldiers’ plan.

“I agree,” Sasha nodded to Ymir’s statement. “We need to have syringes ready to make at least two Pure Titans if necessary.”

“Who will carry them though?” Krista spoke up with a worried look on her face. “We don’t know who will find them first or how the situation will go.”

“Our plan is to use your Founding Type abilities to prevent Reiner from transforming. So, you should carry one of the syringes as you’re already going to be there for sure.” Mikasa gave Krista a reassuring smile.

“I’ll carry the other one.” Eren took the task upon himself. “I won’t let either of them get away.” This idea had the potential to go badly if there was no one around that was on the very short list of other cadets they’d considered awakening as Lesser Shifters. But letting Reiner and Bertholdt complete their plan was tantamount to allowing Eldia be wiped out before they even had a chance to rebuild it.

“We need to do this quickly then.” Annie stated since they were on a time limit before deployment. “We need to sneak into the medical bay and swipe two syringes and cases to store them in.”

“I’ll be right back.” Sasha was rushing off before anyone could stop her.

“Guess I’ll be the one that gives up some spinal fluid and blood this time.” Ymir unbuttoned her pants and untucked her shirt as much as the ODM Gear straps would allow.

A few minutes later and Sasha returned to the group’s out of the way corner. She pulled a small case from each of her breast pockets and handed one to Krista, and the other to Eren. “No one was even in the infirmary. The doctors and nurses have already evacuated.”

“They’ve already given up?” Eren very nearly snarled at the information. Why did so many people within the walls give up so easily? Had they really been beaten down and broken so thoroughly over the last few years since Wall Maria was broken?

“Hurry up, we have to be ready to deploy in a few more minutes.” Ymir urged them as she held up the back of her shirt. Krista and Eren opened their cases to reveal a single syringe each. Annie was the one to take them both and kneel behind the sitting Ymir to extract the spinal fluid first.

In some scenarios, having multiple syringes ready to go would be preferable. In this situation though, with the uncertainty of everything going on, they couldn’t risk a single syringe of the prepared serum falling into the current regime’s hands. They only had two shots at this, so they had to make them count. It didn’t take Annie and Ymir long to have the two syringes ready. Eren and Krista placed their individual syringes into their own cases and then stashed them into one of the pockets of their uniforms.

“Let’s go.” Eren only got a single step before he was pulled backwards and his lips were captured by Ymir.

“For luck.” Ymir smiled at him softly.

This led to a quick round of kisses before the group headed back towards the main area, Armin pointedly facing away from the lovers to give them their moment. Annie separated from them ahead of time to show up from a different direction. Reiner had already proven that his trust in her was tenuous at best. She wouldn’t give him any reason to think that his plan had been compromised.

“Private Ackerman!” A squad leader of the Garrison marched over as soon as he caught sight of Mikasa. “You’ve been specially assigned to the rearguard.”

“What?” Mikasa’s eyes widened at being separated from the others. “Why?”

“This comes from higher up than me.” The squad leader shook his head. “Don’t question it. Your assignment isn’t up for debate. Now move!” He motioned towards the direction of the rearguard gathering area before heading off to his own squad.

“Mikasa,” Eren took her hands in his and looked into her eyes. “Save as many of them as you can, okay? They didn’t ask for this, and they don’t deserve to die for the whims of a country that hates us.”

“I know,” Mikasa sighed, her heart wanting to stay with Eren and the rest of their little family. “I’ll do everything I can, so all of you come back alive.” She requested of the entire group.

“We will.” The statement was firm and powerful. None of them would die today; they wouldn’t allow it. It had already been agreed upon that if worse came to worst, they would transform, even if it made their future plans more difficult.

“I’ll see you soon.” Mikasa pecked Eren’s lips before heading off towards the rearguard group.

“Do we have eyes on those two?” Eren questioned.

“I see, Bertholdt over there.” Sasha motioned with her head to the tall guy.

“Then Reiner is going to be close by.” Armin scanned the crowd and sure enough found Reiner only a few meters away from Bertholdt.

“Do your best to keep track of them.” Eren already had his green eyes locked onto both of them. “This won’t work if we lose them.”

“That goes without saying.” Ymir narrowed her eyes on their two enemies.

A short time later and the group was split up into different squads. Eren and Armin were part of Squad Thirty-Four. Ymir was part of Squad Thirty-Two with Annie. Thankfully both Krista and Sasha ended up as a pair too. Both of them part of Squad Thirty-Five. It seemed that Sasha and Krista’s squad would be the ones closest to Reiner and Bertholdt’s Squad Thirty.

“We’ll succeed, Armin.” Eren assured his oldest friend as they stood on a rooftop along with the rest of their squad. Any minute now and they’d be sent out to hold the line against the Titans that had gotten into Trost.

“Yeah…no doubt.” Armin shook himself before any nerves could try to take him. “We need to succeed and get into the Survey Corps.”

“Hey now,” Mina spoke up as she walked closer to the two. “You guys aren’t the only ones applying for the Survey Corps in our group.”

“You left me in the dust before, Eren, but this time I’m keeping up.” Thomas declared confidently. “And to make it more interesting, why don’t we see who can kill more Titans?” The rest of the squad perked up at the idea of a contest.

“You’re on, Thomas, just don’t get careless.” Eren grinned at the blonde. “If anyone dies, then we all lose. So, make sure you remember our training.”

“Wires out of Titan reach.” Mina rattled off one of the core tenants of ODM Combat against Titans.

“Use stable anchor points.” Thomas nodded right after.

“Never anchor into a Titan unless absolutely necessary.” Armin went next.

“Two soldiers per Titan will usually assure a kill.” Samuel spoke up with another tenant.

“Watch out for Abnormals.” Eren looked seriously at all of them.

“Squad Thirty-Four! Advance!” The spotter yelled, raising his hand into the air to signal that they were clear to move forward safely.

“Let’s go!” Eren leapt off the roof and launch his wires into a nearby building. A hiss of compressed gas being released and he shot forward. Armin followed after him instantly and the other three were right behind them both.

As the group of new soldiers flew forward the sounds of Titan roars grew louder. Looking ahead, the squad saw the forms of dozens of Titans in the distance. The occasional sight of a soldier using ODM Gear was seen as well, but far too few to deal with so many Titans. At this point the vanguard and the middle guard were already blurring together.

“What the hell?” Eren grimaced at the sight.

“There’s so many already?!” Mina exclaimed at seeing so many Titans.

“Usually, the senior soldiers in the vanguard would’ve killed more of them by now.” Samuel was confused as to how the Titans had already pushed so far into Trost.

“Did the vanguard collapse?” Thomas questioned as they all cleared a large street to land on the next rooftop.

“It hasn’t even been that long though…” Eren shook his head at seeing the state of the battle. “We need to observe and figure out where we could be the most help.” He decided and the squad nodded as they stood on the roof to see which direction they should head towards, instead of just blindly rushing forward with their ODM Gear.

“What is that?” Armin noticed movement behind a nearby building. A Fourteen-meter Titan suddenly leaping over the building towards them wasn’t what he expected. “Abnormal incoming!” He warned everyone as the Titan made it to the apex of its jump. “Scatter!” The squad separated just as the Abnormal smashed into the building they’d just been on.

“There’s a Five-Meter below!” Samuel called out as he spotted the Titan crawling on all fours through the street.

“Armin and I will kill the Abnormal!” Eren and Armin were already in the air. “Encircle the short one and kill it! Head west to reinforce the vanguard there!”

“Right!” Mina, Thomas, and Samuel called back as they kept their wires high on the nearby buildings so that the Five-Meter Titan couldn’t reach them. The three new soldiers set upon the Titan like wolves.

“Eren, it’s going to jump again!” Armin warned as he saw the Abnormal looking between the two flying soldiers and bending its knees. “I’ll go low to distract it, kill it!” The blonde shot low, barely above the ground as he flew towards the Titan.

“Got it!” Eren fired his other wire to change direction and let off a burst of gas to speed up.

The Abnormal was about to jump, but saw Armin almost on the ground. Aborting its leap, the gangly-looking Titan reached down towards the approaching Armin with its right hand. It never even saw Eren coming. With the boost from his compressed gas, Eren rocketed past the Abnormal with his two swords out. The thin, flexible blades cut cleanly through the Pure Titan and a large chunk of its nape went flying from its body. Armin, seeing the successful strike, used a burst of gas to launch himself upwards until he was even with Eren. The Abnormal collapsed face first onto the paved road and its body began to steam as it broke down.

“Shit.” Eren let the curse slip out. “An Abnormal right off the bat?”

“If there were multiple Abnormals, that could explain what happened to the vanguard.” Armin theorized as the two landed on a high roof. “What should we do next, kill more Titans to support the vanguard, or head towards Reiner and Bertholdt’s location?”

“Head for Reiner and Bertholdt while killing any Titan we come across.” Eren decided after a moment of thought. He hated leaving the lives of the soldiers in such a harsh situation, but removing Bertholdt and Reiner as threats took precedence. They could at least kill the Titans they encountered in route to make it easier for the other soldiers.

“Right!” Armin agreed with that plan with a smile. The two launched their wires and flew off the rooftop while keeping a careful eye out for any Titans on their path.

-Krista and Sasha-

Everything had rather quickly gone to hell once their squad had been sent forward into the battlefield. The Titans were already further inside of Trost than expected and they’d had a close call right away. Thankfully Sasha had killed the Titan and saved her squad member. The group had split up after that, with Sasha and Krista headed towards Reiner and Bertholdt’s squad while the rest of their own squad made their way towards the vanguard to reinforce the line.

“Sasha!” Krista called out to her girlfriend. “There!” She pointed towards an out of the way area near the wall. From this distance Sasha could barely make out the two figures, but only two people among the new soldiers was that tall.

“Franz is around this area too, right?” Sasha asked for confirmation as the two girls landed on a rooftop.

“Yes, but I saw his squad engaging Titans shortly after we split up.” Krista informed the brunette without taking her eyes off the two figures just standing around out of the way.

“Then that one can only be Bertholdt.” Sasha nodded in agreement. They were lucky that he was so recognizable from a distance. “We need to get a bit closer without them noticing us. I don’t see anyone else around yet.” The Warhammer Type looked over the area with her eyes. If they were gong to take down Reiner and Bertholdt before either could try to transform, then they’d need the numbers advantage.

Bertholdt and Reiner had no idea that they were being watched as they stood on the roof of a four-story building, watching the Titans slowly gain ground against the soldiers. Any time now and one of them would break through the middle guard and get to the rearguard area. Once that happened, the order to retreat should come soon after. Everything was going according to plan.

They couldn’t have known that six Shifters were slowly working their way towards them. Carefully surrounding the two like a pack of wolves before going in for the kill.

The Eldian Empire would soon reclaim two of its Prime Titans.

-End Chapter-

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An older Eren that is learning to be a good leader makes better decisions. Those changes result in his squad not getting wiped out. Now their group just has to deal with Bertholdt and Reiner before the Pure Titans get to the rearguard area and the retreat is sounded.

There’s also the hole in the Trost gate to consider as well. That’s not getting plugged up unless someone can move that massive boulder nearby.

But if everything works out for Eren and his group, who will be the new holders of the Prime Armor Titan and the Prime Colossal Titan?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!