"5…"
"4…"
"3…"
"2…"
RUMBLE!!!
Heaven rarely grants mercy.
Just as Evan Cross and Mikasa were about to reach the back doorway, the massive ceiling beam finally gave way
and collapsed straight down.
It fell too fast.
Even Evan couldn't dodge it in time.
Death filled their pupils
like a dark figure extending its hand toward them.
"Am I… going to die…?"
Time froze.
Mikasa stared at the enormous stone slab descending toward her head
just centimeters away.
Her eyes dimmed.
A memory flashed
A boy's voice.
A warning.
A command.
Live.
No matter what happens, live.
Fight if you must.
Kill if you must.
But survive in this unfair world.
"Eren… I'm sorry…"
Slowly, she closed her eyes
accepting that absurd, merciless fate.
She didn't want to die.
But she had no choice.
Yet at that very instant
SOMEONE SHOVED HER WITH ALL THEIR STRENGTH.
"GET THE HELL OUT!!!"
Mikasa snapped awake as her body flew outward
through the doorway.
She twisted mid-air and looked back.
What she saw
was a pale, determined face twisted with fierce defiance.
Evan's brows were tightly furrowed.
In his eyes burned two impossible flames:
Unwillingness.
And rage.
Rage at fate.
Rage at the Titans.
The same expression she had once seen
on another boy.
"He… left himself behind… to push me out…"
Mikasa's pupils widened.
She tried to grab his hand
to pull him with her
but his shove was too forceful.
Her tiny body was still airborne; she had no control.
"No no! Come out! Please!!!"
CRAAAAASH!!!
The colossal beam slammed down.
The church collapsed.
The last sliver of escape between them vanished under mountains of rubble.
The building fell into ruins
burying everything beneath it in a suffocating tomb.
Mikasa stared blankly at the destruction.
Her face drained of all color.
"Why… why… why did you save me…?"
Why trade your life
for someone like…
her?
She didn't understand.
She thought only Eren was her light.
Only Eren brought hope into her bleak world.
Only Eren held that impossible purity and kindness.
But now
She realized she had been wrong.
There was another light.
One that had pulled her back from hell itself.
Because of that light
she could still live in a world where Eren existed.
A world where kindness still glimmered in the darkness.
But that boy
would no longer enjoy that world.
SHUUUUNG!!!
Suddenly
A dazzling light burst out from beneath the ruins.
A pillar of radiance, over ten meters tall.
Blinding.
Majestic.
Unimaginable.
Like the Milky Way itself had descended.
Mikasa froze, staring up at it.
"What… is that…?"
Even the two Titans halted.
They leaned forward, peering curiously at the impossible column of light.
A few streets away, fleeing civilians also turned
"Is that…?"
"Is that… a god descending!?"
"How can light like that exist…?"
"Hey this isn't the time to be staring! Run ah! I'm caught !"
A man was ripped apart mid-sentence.
Screams returned instantly.
Survival first.
Questions later.
"Child! So you're here!"
A short-haired blond man Hannes landed beside Mikasa, gasping after descending via ODM gear.
"Good thing I ran into Eren. Mikasa, let's go quickly!"
"Hannes… Uncle…"
Mikasa turned slowly toward him
then pointed stiffly at the column of light.
"What… is that…?"
"Where?"
Hannes followed her gaze.
Then
HIS BREATH CAUGHT.
"What in the what happened there!?"
"That… that wasn't me…"
Mikasa whispered, hollow-eyed.
"It was the one who saved me. He… he…"
But before she could finish
"THE LIGHT IS FADING!"
Hannes shouted in shock.
The brilliant column trembled
flickering
and began to disappear.
The rubble shifted.
Something…
was emerging.