Gale looked up at the sky. This time, he was no longer a spectator; he was a secret weapon, and a very powerful one thanks to his complete mastery of the War Hammer Titan. At this moment, war had inevitably begun.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"I must not fear."
"Fear is the mind-killer."
"Fear is the little death that brings total annihilation."
"I will face my fear."
"I will permit it to pass over me and through me."
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Out at sea, the cannons roared, and the sky was stained dark red.
Warplanes streaked across the sky, dropping oil-based incendiary bombs.
The flames raged, suffocating black smoke billowed upward, and the Allied ships became blazing furnaces; many died from suffocation or severe burns.
On the decks, men manned elevated artillery positions, firing into the sky.
Higher above, airships flew while firing at low-altitude targets. A shell struck a bomber, causing it to explode in midair, shattering into pieces and leaving no trace of its pilot.
This was the battlefield between the Allied Forces and Paradis Island, unfolding in the waters outside the nuclear industrial zone.
The Allied landing was severely hindered here.
Even those who managed to approach the shore were met by warships and giant machine guns.
On this front, the Allied Forces suffered heavy losses, finally realizing how crucial aircraft could be in naval warfare.
But the war continued without the slightest thought of stopping. Elsewhere, ships landed on Paradis Island.
The Marleyans possessed maps of the island's coastline, having sailed those waters for a century while transporting "criminals" to the island.
Although they did not know the troop deployments across the island, they knew the suitable landing sites, and some inevitably managed to make landfall.
The Allied soldiers arrived on the island and advanced cautiously through the untamed wilderness.
The fifty-meter-high Walls were clearly visible; once they landed, their silhouettes would become visible within a day or two, allowing every landing force to determine its position.
Gale stood atop Wall Shiganshina, surrounded by a reconnaissance squad, watching plumes of smoke rise in the distance before saying, "Let the Abnormal Titans do their work. We'll attack at night and eliminate the scattered squads."
"Wouldn't it be better to leave the job to the mines?"
"Yes, but this war will be a long one, and we need to wear them down as much as possible before our defensive weapons are gradually discovered." Gale knew that nothing beyond what they had already anticipated would happen during this war. It would be a war of attrition.
...
Southern Forest, outside the Walls of Shiganshina.
A group of heavily armed soldiers was cautiously making its way through the forest. They were all scouts sent by their regiment to explore the area and determine whether it was feasible to send an entire battalion close to the Walls.
The plan was simple: secure one of the entrances to invade the interior of Wall Shiganshina and gradually seize the Walls.
The high command generals all shared the same theory regarding the Rumbling. They believed that Paradis would never use a power that would endanger everything they had built throughout their history, so they intended to wear them down until they could no longer use that final trump card against humanity.
But once again, they greatly underestimated what using that last resort truly meant, and Gale understood it well. The humans outside the Walls were extremely arrogant.
"Hey... is what they say about the island's Walls really true?" a young soldier in the group asked.
"What do you mean?"
"That they're made of Colossal Titans. Thousands of them, standing side by side. I find that hard to believe."
"That's what we were taught since childhood. They say the King of the Walls used the power of the Founding Titan to harden their bodies and turn them into those enormous walls," one of the Marleyans in the group recounted, sharing what little he knew.
"If that's true... can you imagine how many are inside?" Many of the Union soldiers knew almost nothing about Paradis.
"I've heard there are tens of thousands. Some even say there are hundreds of thousands."
One of the soldiers let out a mocking laugh and said, "Bah. It doesn't matter how many there are. All we have to do is exterminate every Eldian on that damned island before they can use them."
"Exactly. As long as those demons exist, the world will never be safe."
"I say we should wipe them all out. Men, women, and children. That way we'll make sure another monster never appears again."
Several soldiers nodded with smiles on their faces.
At that moment, an older man with numerous scars across his face growled in a deep voice, "Shut your mouths!"
The soldiers immediately fell silent and looked at him.
"You're talking as if Titans were just ordinary animals that you can shoot and be done with."
The veteran swept his gaze across the group before asking, "Has any of you ever seen a Titan up close?"
The soldiers exchanged awkward glances.
"No... sir."
"Neither have I."
"Then don't talk about things you don't understand."
The veteran took a deep breath before continuing.
"Fifteen years ago, I took part in an expedition alongside the Warrior Corps in these lands. We lost more than half our men before we even got close to the objective."
The mocking expressions vanished.
"Titans don't feel fear. They don't get tired. They don't hesitate. You can blow off one of their arms, and they'll keep advancing. You can pierce straight through their chest, and they won't even slow down. The only thing that matters to them is reaching you."
One of the younger soldiers swallowed nervously and asked, "Are they really... that terrifying?"
"Far more terrifying than you can imagine." The veteran lowered his gaze for a few seconds.
"I saw a comrade empty all of his ammunition into a five-meter Titan. Just when he thought he had stopped it, the creature got back up as if nothing had happened. It caught him with one hand... and stuffed him into its mouth while he was still screaming."
"I also saw a four-meter Titan crawl for hundreds of meters with broken bones just to reach a wounded soldier. It didn't rest. It didn't give up. It never stopped chasing him until it devoured him."
"And a Colossal Titan...?"
The veteran slowly raised his eyes.
"If the rumors about the Walls are true... then pray they never awaken."
The soldiers remained motionless.
"Because a single Colossal Titan can destroy a city. Now imagine tens of thousands of them advancing at the same time."
One of the young soldiers turned pale and asked, "Is there really anything capable of stopping that?"
The veteran took several seconds before answering.
"I don't know."
"And I hope we never have to find out."
The same soldier who had earlier called for the extermination of all Eldians lowered his head and said, "I... I'm sorry, sir. I spoke without thinking."
"I'm not defending them. Marley has fought the Eldians for generations, and everyone will have their own opinion of them. But never underestimate the power of the Titans or believe that a war against the island will be easy."
However, just as they were about to resume their march to scout the Walls, a spear shot through the air like a missile from dozens of meters away, obliterating every soldier before they even realized what had struck them.
Boom!
Dozens of trees were blown down, and in the distance, Gale, transformed into an incomplete War Hammer Titan, lowered the long bow formed by his hand and said,
"Let's continue hunting the scouts."