Like a dying flicker of memory, it all came rushing back—the moment Mikasa called out to me just hours ago.
"So… cold…" I could feel death creeping closer, its hands wrapping around me.
"You must live."
"…Live…" My eyes, which were just about to close in acceptance, slowly opened again.
Why… why am I here?
I didn't come here to feed the Titans.
I came here…
To survive.
To reach Wall Shiganshina with my own two feet.
I clenched what was left of my twin blades. My will to fight sparked again.
"I… will not… die here!!" I screamed, slashing furiously at the Titan's palm with my dulled blades, severing all its fingers. Steam erupted from the stumps as the severed digits fell away.
My left eye, still able to see, sharpened in focus. I furrowed my brow. I could see them again—those ghostly attack trajectories. The premonitions.
I fell from the Titan's grip. Below me was its gaping mouth, still desperate to devour me.
And yet… I felt no fear.
Countless attack paths glimmered in my left eye. I twisted midair, firing the grappling line. It locked into the ground.
With no gas left, the best I could do was brace for a hard fall.
But fate is rarely merciful.
A five-meter Titan leapt up.
Its open maw clamped down—biting off both of my arms.
"Ghh… AAAAAHHH!!" I crashed to the ground, blood erupting from my shoulders like fountains. It was a grotesque display. I had no arms. No defense. No escape.
The pain was unbearable. I collapsed, sobbing from agony.
My body trembled violently. My vision blurred with blood. I couldn't even stand, let alone run. The blood from my own wounds obscured my sight. Through the haze, I could barely make out the shapes of more Titans approaching.
"No… I… I can't…" I tried to rise. I pressed my foot into the ground, but my injured left leg gave out immediately.
I… Sandra Gant… I cannot fall here…
I swore I'd survive.
I promised… I would live…
My broken jaw trembled. My vision began to fade—like something foreign was sliding over my eyes, smothering them like a second skin.
As the world darkened, I felt myself slipping… into sleep, maybe…
Maybe I really did die.
A soldier—no, a woman who fought until the bitter end—now lay lifeless on the battlefield.
The Titans had no interest in the dead. They looked at her unmoving body, lost interest, and turned away.
But they didn't notice what came next.
From the stumps where her arms had once been, something began to grow.
The ruined skin of her jaw peeled away, revealing perfect, regenerated teeth underneath. Her upper face was soon covered by a protective layer of strange flesh, and three thin, bloody slits appeared where her eyes once were.
Steam hissed around her.
And then… came the lightning.
Brilliant orange bolts danced around the steam, crackling like something unnatural.
A soldier—once dead—was now becoming something else.
A humanoid form, no taller than she had been in life. But where her arms were now grew twin crystal blades—each two meters long, shimmering in iridescent hues like rainbow-forged swords. Razor-sharp. Hardened.
Her body was still mostly human. But her face…
Her jaw was exposed like a small Titan's—no skin, only raw red muscle and interlocking teeth, with a bite force like a monster.
The area above the nose had grown a strange skin membrane, while her eyes were hidden beneath three slitted scars. The outer layer seemed designed to shield her true vision.
This creature—radiating the heat of a Titan, with a bizarre and terrifying face, bearing monstrous jaw strength and crystalline arm-blades shining in rainbow light—looked like a demon straight out of hell.
And yet, its size… was that of a human.
Wearing the torn uniform of a military soldier, the creature stood up. The shredded cloth flapped at its limbs. The emblem of the Training Corps on its back was soaked in blood.
"Ghh… aaahhh…" The skinless jaw opened, releasing a hiss of steam. Through the bloody slits, it saw the approaching Titans—every movement, every attack, every future strike.
And it roared.
A Titan's roar.
A challenge.
The six nearby Titans heard it—and charged.
The first to arrive was the five-meter Titan.
It locked onto the target—something vaguely human—and lunged.
But "she" moved.
Only 160 centimeters tall. Yet the crystal blades extended two full meters.
She spread her arms wide. Then surged forward at terrifying speed. In just two seconds, she covered thirty meters. And then leapt.
Her jump easily launched her twenty meters into the air.
Agile. Precise.
She remembered how to fight. As if the human inside still lived.
She raised the dual crystal blades above her shoulder and brought them down.
The five-meter Titan's nape was cleaved in one clean strike—nearly severing the entire head.
This thing… this being…
It was neither human nor Titan.
It was a monster.
And it killed like one.
The corpse hit the ground with a thud.
Her short brown hair still fluttered atop her strange head. Warm winds passed through the street.
Inside that monstrous body… was the consciousness of Sandra Gant.
Even after enduring the impossible—she would not die.
"Haaa…" Her fleshless jaw opened wide, releasing clouds of hot breath. Her sleeves were torn. The insignia was soaked in gore. She stepped forward, boots hitting the stone road.
And in her eyes—within the slitted shadows—she saw them.
More attack paths.
More futures.
The five Titans saw her like an insect.
But the insect… attacked.
One by one, she eliminated them.
Her small body darted through the battlefield, out of reach, slaughtering Titans like they were prey. They couldn't touch her.
Her route now pointed directly into the town.
And the monster advanced.
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