The Royal Family
Rod Reiss paced back and forth restlessly, his face tense with anxiety. Sitting atop a wooden crate nearby, Kenny casually drank from a bottle of red wine, clearly annoyed by Rod's pacing.
"Hey, stop pacing," Kenny said. "You're making my eyes hurt."
"Kenny, how can you still be drinking at a time like this?" Rod shot him a cold glare.
"Do you have any idea how serious the situation is?!"
"What's so serious about it?" Kenny replied lazily.
"Just a few more Titans showing up, right?"
"We don't know the full situation yet," Rod said grimly.
"But if something really happens to Eren, then it's all over!"
"Oh? Is that so."
Seeing Kenny's indifferent attitude made Rod furious—but he didn't dare show it openly.
The Reiss family no longer possessed Titan power. They had no leverage over Kenny. If Kenny wanted to, a single knife stroke would be enough to wipe out the entire Reiss bloodline.
Because of that, Rod had no choice but to treat him with a certain degree of respect. More importantly, he still needed Kenny and his squad to capture Eren and Krista—no, Historia—and bring them back.
As for Kenny, he found the old man just as irritating. If it weren't for his own secret objective, he would've quit long ago. What Kenny didn't realize was that although Rod had many flaws, he wasn't stupid—he had already sensed Kenny's true intentions.
"In any case," Rod said, "if they make it back alive, we must act immediately. Have your people prepare. We don't have time to drag this out."
Kenny grinned, baring his teeth.
"Don't worry about that. My boys are always ready to spill blood."
---
Utgard Castle, The Tower
The battle was still raging.
But once Lillian and the other two arrived, the balance of the fight shifted dramatically in humanity's favor.
No one understood why Lillian was wielding such a bizarre weapon—but they had all witnessed its terrifying effectiveness.
Three-meter-class Titans couldn't even get close to the entrance. The moment they approached, they were cut cleanly in half by a single swing of Lillian's scythe, completely powerless to resist.
As for larger Titans—ten meters, even thirteen or fourteen meters tall—elite squads coordinated to engage them, while Lillian handled the rest by "trimming their feet."
Although his jumping ability had improved significantly through training, he still couldn't leap ten meters straight up from the ground. So his strategy was simple: target the ankles.
One swing was enough—not just severing tendons, but slicing the entire foot clean off. Once their massive bodies lost support, the Titans immediately collapsed.
After that, the elite soldiers could finish them off—or Lillian would circle behind and cleave their heads apart himself.
Before long, the small group of Titans had been almost completely wiped out.
"When did Lillian get this strong…?"
From atop the tower, his former classmates stared in disbelief.
They had always known Lillian's physical abilities were above average—but this was on an entirely different level. It was no longer human. And he'd never shown anything like this back in the training corps. If he had, he would've easily ranked in the top ten.
"That scythe is huge…"
"Wait, isn't Lillian in the Military Police? Why is he here helping us?"
"No idea…"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"…Right?"
Their gazes instinctively shifted to Krista and Ymir.
Back in training, those two had been closest to Lillian. If he had come to save someone, it was probably largely for their sake.
Being stared at, the two reacted differently.
Krista looked slightly embarrassed, but more than that, worried. She desperately wanted Lillian to hurry inside the tower—but seeing how much his strength was turning the tide, she couldn't bring herself to say it. All she could do was stand there anxiously.
Ymir, however, wore a strange expression—her brow tightly furrowed.
But what occupied her thoughts wasn't Lillian.
It was Reiner.
Earlier, she had absentmindedly read the word "herring" off a can. That alone had already exposed something suspicious to Reiner.
At the time, she'd been flustered—but now, thinking back, Reiner's reaction didn't quite add up.
When he first heard her say "herring," he hadn't reacted at all. It was only after picking up the can and seeing the writing that he froze, then claimed he "couldn't read it."
If his reaction came from seeing the text, that meant Reiner also knew what herring was—which made no sense. There was no such thing inside the Walls.
And then…
Ymir's thoughts drifted back to something from years ago.
She vaguely remembered eating a child—and that was how she had turned back into a human.
But there had been other children nearby.
Her gaze slowly shifted toward the three people talking in the corner.
They looked… just like those children might have, all grown up.
---
"Why are you here?" Reiner asked Annie in a low voice.
"Lillian decided to come," Annie replied.
"That weapon of his…" Reiner glanced around, then lowered his voice further.
"Forget it. But it's good you're here. We can return to our homeland together."
Annie's face paled slightly.
"Now…?"
"Didn't you see? The Warrior Chief is already here!" Reiner rubbed his forehead in frustration.
"Marley must think we've been incompetent—so they sent him to check on us."
Annie had indeed seen the Warrior Chief, and she also knew that Reiner was right.
"Listen, we've been here for five years already! If we go back with nothing to show for it, they'll definitely force us to pass the Titan power on to someone else! If that happens, our families are finished!"
"..."
Reiner clenched his teeth. "No. That can't happen. Absolutely not. That's why we must take Eren back. And that Ymir too! She's strange—I suspect she knows about Marley, so she has to be taken back as well!"
"But Eren… we don't even know where he is," Bertholdt said quietly.
"No," Reiner shook his head. "I'm guessing the rest of the Scout Regiment is already on their way. They all think the wall's been breached—there's no way Commander Erwin wouldn't deploy Eren in that situation. So once Eren shows up, we make our move. We take both Eren and Ymir back. At least then we'll have something to show, and we won't be punished…"
"Hey, Reiner… is this really going to work?" Bertholdt hesitated. "If the Scouts are all here… I'm not good at fighting, and Eren definitely—"
"Don't worry," Reiner cut him off, turning to Annie. "There are three of us now. Annie's here too. In that case, they won't be able to stop us. Right, Annie? Why haven't you said anything this whole time?"
Annie looked at the two of them, her expression complicated. She genuinely didn't know what to say anymore. In the past, she would have simply nodded coldly and said "Okay." But now—how could she explain it? Should she say that she now agreed more with Lillian's ideas: resisting, fighting for legitimate rights, and eventually coexisting peacefully with the world?
"I…"
Her thin lips parted, but before she could finish, Armin—who had been watching the Beast Titan moving toward the wall—suddenly shouted.
"Hey! Everyone, look!"
The sudden shout drew everyone's attention at once, and they all turned in the direction he was staring.
At a glance, they saw the Beast Titan climbing up the wall—and then making a throwing motion with his arm.
Whoosh—!
"That is…?!" Armin's face turned pale as he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Everyone, get down!!"
BOOM!!
The impact exploded in the next instant, followed by the sound of stone shattering and debris flying everywhere. But strangely, despite the massive noise, the tower itself didn't shake.
…It missed?
The group exchanged glances. Annie was the first to rush to the edge and look down. What she saw made her pupils shrink—the stable below had been completely destroyed, and among the rubble, a section of a metal handle was visible.
It was Lillian's scythe.
Him?!
Annie's expression changed dramatically. She immediately leapt from the top of the tower, gas blasting from her ODM gear as it propelled her downward at full speed.
"Annie!" Bertholdt called out after her, confused and alarmed. Reiner, however, had gone completely grim, his gaze following Annie's figure with growing suspicion.
An intelligent Titan… that beast-like thing was definitely an intelligent Titan too!
Armin lay prone on the ground, his eyes unfocused, despair creeping into his heart.
Just how many intelligent Titans were there? In a situation like this, how were humans even supposed to win?
"Lillian!!"
Krista, who had been lying nearby, scrambled to her feet and looked down at the ruins. When she couldn't see Lillian, panic flooded her. She wanted to rush down immediately, but without ODM gear, all she could do was turn and try to run down the stairs—only to be grabbed by Ymir.
"He's fine. Look."
"Ah…"
Krista looked again. Annie had already landed at the edge of the rubble, preparing to move—when suddenly, a large stone slab was pushed aside from below. A figure crawled out from beneath the debris.
"Pah! Cough, cough…"
Lillian spat out the dust in his mouth and rubbed his eyes. "Damn… almost got buried alive."
He'd been standing near the gate earlier. When he heard the sharp whistling sound, he realized it was Zeke throwing rocks and immediately tried to dodge inside—but he'd been a step too slow. Thankfully, the rock hadn't hit him directly; otherwise, at that speed, he would've been turned into pulp. He'd only been slammed by the stable's stone framework, which wasn't a serious injury.
Pulling himself up, he retrieved his scythe—and then saw Annie standing right in front of him. Her hands were half-raised, her movements stiff.
Lillian glanced at her. "Were you trying to dig me out?"
Annie paused, then lowered her hands. "No."
Though she wanted to say more, there clearly wasn't time.
Lillian took a deep breath and shouted up at the elite soldiers still hanging on the tower.
"That bastard Titan is throwing rocks! Get inside the tower, now! If you get hit by one of those, you'll die!!"