Paradis Island.
The attached city of the Shiganshina District beneath Wall Maria.
The Armored Jaw Titan lay collapsed on the ground, its chest brutally pierced through by an anti-Titan armor-piercing shell, which had also blown both of its hands to pieces.
Because his hands were covered in the armored plating and hardened crystal of the War Hammer Titan, they had become like solid iron.
When the shell hit, they shattered completely, bursting apart into fragments that whirled up and down through the air.
Through the Titan's eyes, Roger saw the Pieck Finger he had been shielding in his hands, and in the instant the shell blew his palms apart, she blossomed into a tragically beautiful spray of blood—beautiful once in this world, then withered and gone forever.
Roger clearly saw the tongues of flame licking her cheeks, grinning as they scorched her hair; the shockwave of the explosion tore her body apart, reducing her to scattered pieces.
Fallen on the ground, with its cheek pressed against the dirt,
the Armored Jaw Titan stared ahead. What filled its vision was a splatter of scattered blood and a single severed hand.
Pieck's hand.
She was dead.
She had died without even leaving a whole body behind.
Voices buzzed around his ears, but Roger couldn't make out a single one.
Until one voice grew louder and louder, finally stabbing sharply into his hearing.
"Boss!! Boss!! It's Tours!!"
Following the sound, Roger saw a man gripping a fresh pair of blades.
His hair was tied up in a high ponytail, and his frame was exceptionally strong.
One after another, more people rushed over.
They reeled in their grappling lines and dropped down in front of Roger.
"I don't want a single Titan getting close to the boss! Everyone move!"
"Yes, sir!!"
The entire Scorpion Corps moved as one at the command.
At first, Roger had been surrounded on all sides by Titans. They had no way to get close, and could only desperately draw Titans away around the edges to lighten the pressure on their boss.
But now that the Titans' attention was no longer focused on Roger, they'd hurried over as fast as they could.
Forming up around Roger as their center, they cut their way outward!
Every single one of them fought like a war god, each with the courage to stand against a thousand.
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!
They were on the brink of madness; facing Titans, they showed no mercy at all—even with their bodies already drenched in blood.
As their blades flashed, Roger's chest slowly began to regenerate, and his hands started growing back.
Bracing himself on the ground, taking advantage of the brief moment of respite his subordinates had won for him, Roger forced the Titan to stand.
Half-crouched, he slowly rose to his feet.
But at that very moment…
"Reload one round!"
"Ready!"
"Fire!!"
—Boom!
The shell shrieked through the air like a reaper's wail, letting out a hideous scream.
Turning his head slightly, the Armored Jaw Titan decided not to dodge this time.
The soft, fragile person he wanted to protect was already dead.
Since that was so, there was no reason left to evade.
He stretched out his hand and hardened it. Roger actually intended to block the incoming shell with his palm.
White light flared from his palm as the hardening bloomed. The instant Roger extended his hand, he remembered the lingering warmth that had once rested at his fingertips.
All of a sudden, Roger caught the scent of blood.
He was clearly inside the Titan's nape, and yet the smell of blood was so thick it was as if an open-air pond on a rainy day had been filled to the brim with blood and was now overflowing.
Frogs and insects clambered and hopped through the bloody water.
He opened his eyes—black pupils.
Woof, woof. Dogs barking.
The busy sounds of work along a harbor.
—"Man, running into Eldian brats right after afternoon tea really turns the stomach!"
—"Shit, I feel like I'm gonna puke."
—"You know something?"
—"I heard that running into Eldian kids on the road means you're in for some serious bad luck."
—"No way! I just bought lottery tickets!"
—"So what do we do with this pack of little shits?"
—"Heh, you know what dogs like to eat?"
—"Huh?"
—"Shit, obviously! Shit! What dogs love most is crap! Hahahaha!!"
The clatter of chains being unfastened, the furious growls of hounds.
—"Roger! Run! Don't worry about us!"
—"You make sure to avenge us, Roger!"
—"Roger! Roger!! Don't look back!"
—"Ha… Roger, are you… some kind of monster?"
—"Push the sin of killing… onto me, since I'm about to die anyway."
—"Leave the rest to me."
—"I'll use the last of my strength to bury those two officers."
—"Please help… sew my body back together."
—"Are those my intestines?"
—"Okay…"
—"It hurts… so much…"
Go, Roger.
Go, Roger.
Run!
Run!
They're coming.
They've found you!
They're questioning you.
They're humiliating you.
They're searching your home.
They're overturning your home.
They're smashing your home to pieces!
—"The patients here are suspected of being infected with a highly contagious virus."
—"They have already been dealt with."
—"If you don't want to die, get the hell out of here!"
"Grandma, why do we have to endure it all the time?"
"Because we're too weak. Roger-chan, when you grow up, you must protect yourself. Don't stir up any trouble. Don't owe anyone anything. Because… sometimes this thing called 'favor' can cost you your life. The world is that cruel. Just staying alive already leaves us exhausted."
"Oh."
Little Roger nodded, half-understanding.
Boom!!
The armor-piercing shell blew through the Armored Jaw Titan's forearm, pulverizing it completely.
It drilled forward, boring straight into the Titan's heart cavity.
The massive body was driven backward by the force of the devastating shell.
Roger controlled the Titan, pressing one hand to the ground, and somehow—through sheer force of will—managed to hold his footing!
"Boss!"
Tours Beak turned around in shock.
The people inside the Walls stared at the scene, dumbfounded.
They were splattered with the blood of their friends and family, lips trembling. They didn't dare to utter a sound, only watching quietly.
"Roger! Hang in there!!"
No one knew who it was that suddenly shouted.
But it was like a switch had been flipped; the people inside the Walls erupted.
With one heart and one voice, they shouted together.
"You've got to hold on, Roger!!"
"Drive these bastards out of our home!"
"Come on!!"
"Let them all die!!"
"Cut down those devils!!"
"Kill them!!"
"Give your hearts!!"
Everyone was screaming now, cheering Roger on.
"This should be about the shell's maximum power and fastest firing speed, right?"
Inside the Titan's nape, Roger let out a twisted grin.
[All set?]
[Using your body as the test target… only you would dare that.]
[Then now we—]
[?!!]
[What's going on?!]
[My power is being forcibly drained?!]
[Don't tell me you—!!]
"Yeah. I'm the one who took it."
Roger laughed.
Right before their eyes, the Armored Jaw Titan's arm regenerated, and black lines were forcibly drawn together, spreading to cover every inch of his body.
"It's… time for you to die."
He spoke,
and opened eyes reddened with bloodlust, baring sharp fangs.
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