"Mikasa!!!"
With her gas fully depleted, Mikasa's ODM gear lost all thrust, sending her crashing into the streets of the town below.
[Note: The following section is from Mikasa Ackerman's perspective.]
This world… is cruel.
And yet… so achingly beautiful.
Mikasa fell to her knees on the ground, as though all meaning to live had been stripped away.
Just moments ago, she had learned of Eren Yeager's death. And then she heard… the last of her family, Sandra Gant, had charged forward with a death wish—like one of the suicide corps.
Mikasa didn't want to imagine Sandra dying. But no one had proof otherwise.
No one—no soldier, no supply runner—was willing to get near the breach where the Titans had poured in.
And the vanguard that Sandra led had disappeared into what looked like certain death.
Nearly half a day had passed. The scouting corps had already reported that the forward team… had been completely wiped out.
Mikasa's mind spiraled back to childhood—the warm girl who once wrapped a red scarf around her neck, and the boy who always dragged both of them out into the sun to play.
Those hands that used to hold hers so gently… might never be held again.
Those two soldiers who always looked straight ahead… who fiercely protected what was dear to them…
Were they both… gone?
Mikasa Ackerman, her heart shattered, remained kneeling. Her eyes, the windows to her soul, were now empty, blank voids.
Slowly, the thudding footsteps of a fifteen-meter Titan approached her.
But Mikasa didn't move. Didn't run. She simply knelt, frozen in thought.
Her parents had died when she was a child. It was a boy and a girl who gave her reason to keep going. Especially the girl—always quietly listening, always smiling warmly at her. It was that smile that gave her the will to survive.
Her gear was nearly useless. Only one broken blade remained.
The Titan stepped closer and closer. Though it had no expression, somehow… Mikasa could feel a grin. Like a predator who knew its prey had already given up.
The massive hand reached down toward her limp form.
"...Fight…!"
Sandra's voice.
As if the very word echoed from the past.
"...Fight…!"
That single word pulled something deep within Mikasa. She yanked out the broken blade and with all her might, slashed the Titan's hand, severing several of its fingers. Then she rolled away, narrowly avoiding the next attack, and leapt to a safer spot nearby.
Her body was moving on its own. Fighting back, despite her having already accepted death.
She couldn't understand it.
Why?
Why was she still dodging? Why was her body still trying to survive?
She gripped the broken blade tightly, over and over asking herself…
Why?
She had given up, hadn't she?
Yet every time the Titan knocked her aside… she rose again.
"Let's go home."
Those words… from Eren and Sandra.
That gentle image from the past played again before her eyes—Eren waiting shyly in the distance, Sandra reaching out and taking her hand with a smile under the golden sunlight…
Maybe her family… was still watching her.
"…Mikasa…"
Sandra's voice called out again.
And just like that, the hollow look in Mikasa's eyes shattered. She snapped back to life and tried to retreat—
But another fifteen-meter Titan appeared behind her.
Two Titans were now closing in from both sides.
But Mikasa… was no longer ready to die.
She remembered what Armin had said—Sandra's fate was still uncertain.
"I… how could I…" Her tears fell, trailing down her cheeks.
The girl who had given her the scarf—the one who always surprised people with her strength. Even her fevers would vanish overnight, as if nothing had happened.
"How can I believe you're dead when I haven't even seen your body, Sandraaaaaa!!"
Mikasa gritted her teeth, shifted into a combat stance, and raised her lone broken blade with both hands.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!" Her scream echoed through the streets as she stood between two towering Titans, ready to fight.
But then…
Something completely unexpected happened.
The Titan behind her surged forward—not toward Mikasa, but past her. Its foot crashed down just behind her, then it swung a massive fist and punched the other fifteen-meter Titan square in the skull—smashing it into the ground.
The blow was so powerful that Mikasa, though unharmed, was launched backward from the shockwave.
"What… what just happened?!" Mikasa gasped, completely stunned.
That Titan—it wasn't just any Titan.
It moved with strength, precision… almost like a trained fighter.
It roared and charged the fallen Titan, tearing into it with its hands. It didn't give the enemy any chance to regenerate. It stomped over and over, crushing its neck without mercy.
A Titan… was slaughtering another Titan.
It was as if this Titan was venting rage that had been building for ages. Blow after blow, it destroyed the other one's body.
From where she stood, Mikasa could sense it.
That strange Titan—its fury felt human.
"Mikasa!!!"
A familiar voice broke through the chaos.
Armin, who had been searching for her, finally spotted her and launched himself down with his still-functioning ODM gear. He grabbed Mikasa midair and carried her to a rooftop.
"Mikasa! Are you hurt?" he asked, just as Connie arrived to regroup with them.
"You're both okay?" Connie asked breathlessly.
"Yeah!" Armin replied.
Connie glanced nervously at the nearby battlefield. He didn't know this strange Titan was killing other Titans. As far as he was concerned, it was just another threat.
Then… another fifteen-meter Titan appeared.
"Crap! There are two of them now! We need to get out of here!" Connie shouted, watching the scene from the rooftop.
"No… that Titan… it's fighting the other Titans…" Mikasa said quietly, still watching.
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Meanwhile, while Mikasa had fallen and Armin and Connie had broken off from the main unit to assist her, Jean Kirstein and the rest of the squad continued their advance.
But before they could reach the supply station, their gas reserves were already almost empty.
And now, they were surrounded.
Titans filled the area.
Many of the trainee soldiers, their mobility gone, were helplessly caught and devoured—screaming, powerless.
Jean, temporarily forced into the role of a leader, could only watch as the Titans closed in around his comrades—those poor, defenseless soldiers…
And he… couldn't do anything.
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