Jean suddenly sensed it.
"Now's our chance… while the Titans are distracted devouring the others…"
He looked at the Titans, who were fully engrossed in feasting on helpless soldiers. That was it. Now was the perfect time to escape.
"This is it! Everyone—charge the HQ!" Jean barked the order and led the dash forward, Annie and the others right behind him.
Meanwhile, back on the other side of the battlefield—after being rescued by the mysterious Titan—Armin handed over his gas canister and blades to Mikasa. Then he laid out a bold plan to her and Connie.
They would use the Titan.
That bizarre Titan which attacked others of its kind but showed no hostility toward humans—Armin believed they could direct it. Let it follow its instincts and wipe out the nearby Titans. If they did it right, it would eventually move on to the largest group—the horde surrounding the supply station HQ.
With Armin now carried in Connie's arms, and Mikasa carving a path through the rooftops ahead, the group launched into motion.
At the same time, under Jean's command, many of the trainees successfully stormed into the HQ. They were finally safe… for now.
Then came the tremor.
"OOOOOAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
The earth-shaking roar pierced everyone's ears.
"What the hell was that…?"
Through the window from Jean's point of view—they saw it.
A single 15-meter Titan was obliterating the others outside the HQ.
"That was close… and we just used up the last of it," Connie said, tapping his empty gas tank, still breathless beside Armin. "We made it, somehow."
"Well done, Armin! Your plan worked!" Connie laughed, slapping Armin's back, grinning wide at the room full of surviving comrades.
"Everyone, that Titan out there—it's an Abnormal! It kills other Titans! And it doesn't care about us at all! If we use it wisely, we might be able to get out of here alive!" Connie shouted, pointing to the strange Titan that was still pummeling the others into bloody pulp.
"Use a Titan? You've lost it…" Jean muttered as he walked up, stunned.
"It's not a dream. Whether it's an Abnormal or something else, the best thing we can do now… is let it rampage as much as possible," Mikasa said coldly, calm and collected.
"What about the supplies?" Mikasa asked.
"There are at least seven Titans—three to four meters tall—inside the gas storage chamber…" one of the supply soldiers reported grimly.
Armin went silent for a moment, clearly thinking hard. Mikasa turned to him expectantly.
"…Everyone, I have a plan…" Armin's voice was quiet and hesitant, as if unsure whether to even suggest it.
"There should be some weapons still left in this building. If we gather them all… then we charge into the gas supply chamber… and then…" Armin continued outlining his plan, while the others listened attentively.
"That's the gist of it. I know it sounds insane…" Armin looked down, embarrassed.
"No. It's a good plan," Jean admitted.
Mikasa listened in silence, her gaze fixed on the Titan outside… her thoughts already far beyond this room.
"Once I get the supplies, I'll head for the outer wall… I'll find you, Sandra."
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
"ORAAAAHHHH!!!"
Outside the HQ, the mysterious Titan was in a frenzy, tearing apart its fellow Titans—if they could still be called that.
Its roar was one of challenge. And the Titans responded, swarming to attack it.
It was a grotesque scene. Titans… slaughtering Titans.
Something that had never been seen before.
And far away, on the rooftop of a tall building, another figure observed silently—a monster wearing the uniform of a soldier.
There was something shared between it and the strange Titan below: the hunger to kill Titans.
This monster's face was vaguely human, but a layer of skin covered its mouth and jaw. Three thin blood-colored slits served as vision lines, and they slowly opened—adjusting, sharpening—studying the scene with unnerving precision.
Its skinless lower jaw parted slightly.
In its mind—guided by primal instinct—it calculated the movements and attack patterns of every Titan in sight.
Then it leapt.
Like a streak of vengeance, it darted toward a cluster of Titans in the distance. Its long arms, now transformed into razor-sharp crystalline weapons, cut through the air with lethal precision.
Its first target was an 8-meter Titan standing between it and the road to the supply station.
Back at the HQ…
After a grueling battle, the trainees finally cleared the gas chamber of all Titans.
They secured the supplies.
Now, with gear restored and morale rising, they prepared for the next step: return to the inner wall.
Armin was ready to scale the wall and retreat—when he spotted someone.
"Mikasa? What are you doing?" Armin leapt onto the rooftop beside her. She stood there, frozen, staring into the distance.
She'd planned to sneak off, unnoticed, and head toward the outer wall—to find Sandra Gant. But what she saw outside the HQ made her stop dead in her tracks.
"That Titan…"
Armin followed her gaze.
The mysterious Titan—was overwhelmed.
Its strength depleted, surrounded, swarmed—it was being eaten alive.
"No way… they're cannibalizing it?! Why can't it regenerate?" Armin watched, stunned, as the Titan that had saved them so many times now roared in agony, unable to shake off the horde gnawing at its flesh.
"If we could just figure out what that Titan really is… maybe we'd finally have the key to break this nightmare," Mikasa murmured.
"I agree," came a voice from behind.
They turned.
Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, and Jean had joined them on the rooftop.
"If we let it die here, we'll never know the truth. We have to get those Titans off it… and make sure it lives," Reiner said firmly.
"You're insane, Reiner! We just got our chance to escape this hell!" Jean protested.
"What if that Titan can be our ally?" Annie said quietly. "Don't you see? It could be the strongest weapon we'll ever have—stronger than any cannon."
"An ally…? Are you serious?" Jean was stunned.
Then Armin's eyes caught something.
Something was walking toward them.
A thin, eerie Titan.
Armin's expression changed. He knew that one.
"That's the one… the Abnormal that killed Thomas…"
Suddenly—
"RRAAAAGHHHHH!!!"
The mysterious Titan, moments ago nearly defeated, let out a feral scream and surged back to life. As soon as it locked eyes on the Abnormal, something deep inside it ignited.
It charged forward like a demon reborn.
"What's happening?!" Mikasa's eyes widened in shock, watching the Titan lunge with a vengeance toward its next prey.
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