It was like biting down on a tree branch—hard, splintery, jarring against his teeth.
But in the end, even Zeke still wasn't harder than the Jaw Titan's teeth.
The Jaw Titan's teeth were now the hardest substance in the world, even tougher than the "hardening" Titans used to protect their lives.
Roger devoured Zeke, Beast Titan and all.
He chewed through bone and flesh, sucked out the marrow and the fresh blood.
All of a sudden, Roger felt a strange kind of power surge into the depths of his heart.
This power was different from that of any other Titan.
If the other Titans were warriors, then this Titan's power was the war horn that summoned warriors to battle.
With this power, Roger could sense the energy of all the Titans within the Paths far more clearly.
But that was all.
The Beast Titan, influenced by Zeke, had come to possess a portion of the power to command Titan warriors and to control the Paths.
Ultimately though, it was still far less direct than the Founding Titan.
The only reason it could wield a fragment of the Founding Titan's power while the Founding still existed…
Was because the Founding Titan had simply "turned a blind eye".
If the Founding Titan had truly wanted to interfere,
Then Zeke, when all was said and done, would have been nothing more than a clown jumping about.
Though to be fair, he was a clown now too.
After struggling his whole life, he'd finally arrived at a failed ending.
Once he had completely inherited the Beast Titan's power, Roger opened his eyes.
The Jaw-Armored Titan underwent yet another evolution in form.
It sprouted a pair of wings.
They were covered in thick feathers, enough to let him soar effortlessly for hundreds of miles.
With a beat of those wings, Roger took to the sky, his deep blue eyes fixed on the airships in front of him.
Marleyan airships.
At that very moment, aboard the Marleyan airships, everything was in complete chaos.
"What do we do?!"
"Mr. President!!"
"The Founding Titan has already been taken!"
"We failed!!"
"What do we do?!"
"What are we supposed to do?!!"
The officers shouted in panic.
They had been counting on Zeke to hold out for a while, to at least stall Roger.
But what they'd never imagined was that the moment Zeke saw Roger, he would… surrender on the spot?!
What kind of joke was that?!
The officers cursed him out in unison, dragging Zeke's ancestors for eighteen generations into it.
But it did no good.
There was nothing they could do—no way at all to escape this deadly situation.
"We… we're finished!"
"We're done for!"
"Mom…!"
"We're going to die any minute now…"
"What do we do!!"
"Damn that Zeke! I knew you couldn't trust an Eldian!"
The officers were in utter despair. Only the President sat firm in their midst, calm and unshaken.
"Why panic?"
He spoke.
The moment his voice sounded, the whole cabin fell silent.
They settled down again in their seats, staring at the President, hoping he could offer some way out.
The President lifted his teacup and took a sip.
Apparently it was too hot.
He kept taking tiny, careful sips.
None of the officers dared interrupt. They waited in agony for him to finish his tea and speak.
But the President moved at a snail's pace, without the least sign of haste.
Outside, the winged Jaw-Armored Titan controlled by Roger was already in the air, its beating wings carrying it forward as those eyes stared straight through the hull at the airships—and at the officers inside.
At any moment, he could suddenly accelerate, tear into the airship with those razor claws, rip it open, and eat the people inside one by one!
"Hurry, Mr. President!!"
"We're begging you!"
"There really isn't any time left!"
"Please, you have to save us!"
"Don't panic! His Excellency the President is bound to have a way out—we just need to calm down!"
After another flurry of frantic shouting, they finally fell quiet.
All of them sat in silence, eyes fixed on the tea-drinking President.
But the President seemed especially at ease. Not only was he unhurried, he actually frowned at the tea for being too weak and added two spoonfuls of sugar.
"Perfect."
After another tiny taste, the President smiled.
Taking advantage of the moment, he retrieved a precisely folded piece of cloth from the inner pocket of his jacket.
When he unfolded it, it turned out to be a small scarf.
He carefully tied it around his neck, then raised his cup and drained the tea in one go.
"Ah~"
Refreshing.
He savored it.
And then let out a little burp.
The officers were beside themselves.
Outside, Roger was already flying toward them.
Faster, and faster, and faster.
"Mr. President!"
One of them leapt to his feet in panic.
But just then, the President lifted a hand.
It was the familiar gesture he always used at press conferences.
Whenever he raised his hand, all the uproar in the venue would immediately die down, as everyone waited for him to say something shocking.
The last time the President raised his hand, Marley had returned vast tracts of occupied territory to other nations.
All the officers had laughed at him as an idiot, handing over his own land for nothing.
But in the blink of an eye, nations around the world had joined the World Alliance led by Marley, taking part in the struggle for the Founding Titan on Paradis Island.
It had to be said—that had been a brilliant move.
And the second time the President raised his hand, when he told the arms merchant he was only willing to cede fifty thousand square kilometers of territory, he somehow managed to force through the previously deadlocked deal for the anti-Titan cannons and bring them into Marley's arsenal.
You could say the President was their entire hope.
Whenever the President lifted that hand, it meant—
"We're saved!!"
They grew excited, almost ready to hug one another.
They craned their necks, leaned in together, all ears, eager to hear what impossibly ingenious solution the President would unveil this time.
Could it be…
They still had a trump card?
If Roger commanded a black titan, maybe there existed other powers in this world they'd never even heard of?!
"Mr. President, do we still have some unknown trump card?"
"Of course."
The President nodded, not denying it.
Hearing the President confirm it, they nearly burst with excitement.
So they'd been right all along!
He really was the President!
He might have once played the fool, doodling little pigs in his notebook so people would write him off as an idiot.
But these last two years, he had been nothing short of a military genius.
He clapped his hands.
Suddenly, space itself seemed to tear open, and a black hole appeared before their eyes.
Under the officers' stunned gaze, a child stepped out, holding a purple book.
"Who are you?"
They stared, dumbfounded.
The kid wore a baseball cap backwards and flashed a wicked grin, then spread open his book.
Everyone craned their necks to look.
On the previously pristine white pages, images suddenly appeared.
"Roger Eikam will die at the hand of a black hand. That black hand will tear open his chest, take out his heart, and crush it to powder."
"Really?!"
"Of course."
"That's great! We're saved!" The officers were so excited they nearly went wild.
So this was the President's trump card?!
It was every bit as unexpectedly powerful as they'd hoped!!
"But not now."
The child suddenly added with another wicked little smile.
Then, before their very eyes, he and the President walked together into the black hole…
And vanished.
"What?!"
The officers all froze, staring blankly where they had disappeared.
Suddenly, the airship shuddered as a massive claw tore it open, spilling everyone inside out into the sky.
Just like…
The Eldians they had forcibly transformed into "Acid Rain Titans".
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