He took one step back, then burst into a sprint!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Roger drove the Titan into a run,
charging straight toward the massive cannon fixed to the Wall!
Black lines etched themselves across his body, boosting his speed and strength.
That black substance wove itself over the Titan's arm, rapidly restoring it.
Once more whole, half of the Armored Jaw Titan's body turned completely black.
"Just like back then, huh?"
In the distance, Zeke caught sight of Roger's Titan.
It reminded him of that time in Marley—of the Black Flame Titan rampaging, that colossal, hundred-meter-class Titan of black fire.
Seeing him throw himself forward at full power in his direction,
Zeke took note of Roger's gaze and realized he wasn't actually the target. So he turned his body aside.
He stepped out of the way.
Letting the beast go.
"What a headache."
The Beast Titan scratched at his cheek, troubled, as Roger's Armored Jaw Titan howled past right in front of him.
Stop him?
Don't be ridiculous.
Zeke wasn't an idiot; he knew exactly what would happen if he stood in front of that thing right now—the outcome would be nothing more than getting smashed to pieces.
How could the power of a single Titan possibly stand up to the power of three Titans in one body?!
He'd be crushed to death, trampled into meat paste—
and still wouldn't be able to stop this madman.
So he might as well let him through.
The two Titans brushed past each other.
The Beast Titan and the Armored Jaw Titan met each other's eyes for a heartbeat.
Zeke forced a smile.
"Safe travels."
He was one bow away from actually bending at the waist; the Beast Titan was one bow away from a full formal salute.
For his part, Roger didn't feel like wasting time on the Beast Titan either.
Since Zeke was sensible enough to step aside, settling things with him later would be soon enough.
So he ignored him and continued his furious charge.
Erwin saw Roger's Titan sprinting and flicked the blood from his blades.
"Commander…"
"Support him and the Scorpion Corps as much as possible. Also, Hange…"
"I'm here, what is it, Commander?"
"Take a team to the Wall." Erwin pointed to the giant cannon on the Wall. "Take that thing apart."
"Got it!"
At his word, Hange immediately led a group up, shooting forward on their ODM gear.
But before she could reach the target, a swift figure shot ahead of her, racing toward the distant cannon.
"Is that… Levi?"
Hange's eyes widened. His movements were clearly much faster than theirs.
Levi had just refilled his gas. Instead of going to the Scorpion Corps headquarters to restock, he had gone straight to the Corps' gas depot.
There were plenty of people waiting there for gas, but he was the only one who could cut the line without shame—and he wasn't even officially a Survey Corps soldier.
At the gas depot, the only Scorpion Corps members they really knew were two people:
one was their leader, Roger.
The other was Levi.
Their respect for Levi was genuine.
Thanks to his overwhelming combat strength, there were more than a few in the Corps who owed him their lives.
Many remembered him and had quietly given him a nickname: "The man whose fighting power equals an entire regiment."
So Levi could cut in line with a clear conscience, and he didn't care in the slightest what others thought.
No one dared say a word to him, because they all knew that even if they filled their tanks to the brim, they'd still use them to run away.
For the sake of humanity's future, leaving the gas for someone stronger wasn't a problem at all.
Levi, of course, couldn't be bothered with any of that.
He was annoyed to death.
Out of nowhere, a whole bunch of people had shown up and created a whole batch of Titans.
Out of nowhere, they'd hauled in some giant cannon that could give even a transformed Roger trouble.
Firing his grappling lines without a break, Levi shot toward the soldiers near the cannon!
Slash!
With a single stroke he took a soldier's head clean off and landed on the Wall.
The Marleyan soldiers saw it happen and immediately raised their guns, pulling their triggers at Levi.
Bang! Bang!
Levi snapped his body out of the line of fire, dodging the bullets.
Then, from an angle no one could have predicted, he shot out again and cut down a second soldier!
"Arrghhh!!"
The Survey Corps soldiers swarmed up; they clashed with the Marleyan troops on the Wall in a chaotic melee.
The giant cannon lost its operators and could no longer fire.
Inside the command airship, Marley's high command sat together around a round table. The center of the table had been cut away and sealed over with glass.
Through the glass, they could look down and observe the situation beneath the airship. The president of Marley coughed lightly.
"What do you all think?"
"Since we've already taken the Founding, all we need to do is keep Roger from getting anywhere near us."
"But the cannon is out of our control."
"No matter. We still have one last trump card."
"What trump card?"
"Operation Acid Rain. Naturally… to have acid rain, you need rain."
The president smiled, a smile that sent a chill through the room.
Under the gaze of the other officers, he clapped his hands.
A soldier at his side stepped away,
heading off to pass orders to the other airships.
At the command, the crews aboard those other airships simultaneously pulled a lever.
Suddenly, every Marleyan officer in the room saw it: the tails of several Marleyan airships lowering and spewing a purple gas downward.
"This…"
"This is—!"
"Spinal fluid," the president said. "Gas mixed with spinal fluid. We can't load too many Titans onto the airships, so we'll just use the raw materials on site!"
As he finished speaking, Zeke let out a yawn under the officers' stunned stares.
"So we've come to this point after all?" he said carelessly.
Inside the Walls, almost everyone caught a whiff of the gas cut with spinal fluid.
Sniffing that strange smell, they frowned in confusion, not understanding.
At that moment, Roger was in hot pursuit of Annie, in her Female Titan form.
When he suddenly saw the "poison gas" raining down from the sky, something clicked in his mind.
He stopped dead in his tracks and turned back to see that nearly everyone had already inhaled more or less of the gas.
Tours.
Levi.
Erwin.
Hange.
And countless more innocent people.
What do I do?
What do I do?
Keep fighting for the Founding?
Or stop Zeke from using his power?!
Time was short—Roger had no time to think.
The Female Titan kept running, glancing back at the motionless Roger.
He's probably going to turn back and save his comrades, she thought.
Roger stood where he was, light from the War Hammer Titan kindling in his palm.
He formed a weapon.
A bow and arrow.
"What is he trying to do?!"
Both the Marley side and Annie realized something was wrong at the same time.
The president frowned and rose from his seat.
Drawing the bow, Roger set the arrow and aimed at the fleeing Female Titan.
And in that same instant…
Behind him,
Zeke cleared his throat.
Like a singer taking the stage, the Beast Titan let out a roar.
"RRRROOOAAARRR——!!"
Thump thump thump thump thump!!
Countless motes of light burst forth as everyone inside the Walls transformed into Titans!
Like an overwhelming tidal wave, they charged straight at Roger!
And at that very moment,
Roger's arrow was loosed.
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