Location: Outside Wall Rose - The Plains
The 57th Expedition began with the thunder of hooves. The Survey Corps fanned out into their Long-Range Scouting Formation.
Ren rode near the center-rear, positioned strategically between the command squad (Erwin) and the special operations squad (Levi/Eren).
His squad—Ren's Valkyries—rode in a tight wedge formation around him. Thanks to the Valkyrie Protocol (Tier 1), their physical stats were enhanced. Even Saya and Shizuka, who were not natural riders, handled their horses with the grace of veterans, their bodies absorbing the shocks of the gallop effortlessly.
"Right flank reported contact!" Hirano shouted over the wind, adjusting his glasses. He looked ridiculous in the green cloak, but the Barrett M82 .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle strapped to his back commanded respect.
"Red smoke!" Maggie called out, pointing to the east. "Abnormal!"
Ren looked at the smoke trails. Black smoke mixed with red.
"She's here," Ren said calmly. "The Female Titan."
"Do we engage?" Saeko asked, her hand resting on the hilt of the Murasame.
"No," Ren ordered. "We hold the line. We lure her into the kill box. Let her think she's winning."
The Forest of Giant Trees
The formation entered the massive forest. Trees, eighty meters high, blocked out the sun. The air was cool and ominous.
Levi Squad (Eren, Petra, Oluo, Eld, Gunther) rode ahead. Ren's squad followed fifty meters behind.
"Ren," Eren looked back, his eyes wide with anxiety. "Why are we going into the forest? We can't use the formation in here!"
"Eyes front, Jaeger," Levi snapped. "Trust the Commander."
Suddenly, the ground shook. BOOM. BOOM.
From the rear, the Female Titan burst through the trees. She was fourteen meters of lean muscle and skinless lethality. She moved like a sprinter, swatting soldiers out of the air like flies.
She locked eyes with Eren.
"Target acquired," Ren whispered.
The Female Titan accelerated. She was gaining on Levi Squad.
"Captain! Give us orders!" Petra screamed. "Let's switch to ODM gear!"
"No," Levi said. "Keep riding."
"She's going to catch us!" Oluo yelled.
Ren watched the distance close. 50 meters. 30 meters.
"Now!" Levi shouted.
They burst into a clearing.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Hundreds of harpoon traps fired from all sides. Steel cables pierced the Female Titan's shoulders, arms, and legs. She crashed to the ground, immobilized.
"We got her!" Eld cheered.
Ren stopped his horse at the edge of the clearing. He looked at the restrained Titan.
"It's not enough," Ren noted. "She has hardening."
Annie (the Female Titan) stopped struggling. She tilted her head back and let out a piercing, horrifying scream.
"Coordinated roar," Saya analyzed instantly. "She's calling reinforcements."
"All units!" Ren barked into his comms (using the Tactical Leadership link). "Defend the trap! Titans are incoming!"
Within minutes, hordes of mindless Titans swarmed into the forest, ignoring the humans and devouring the Female Titan's body.
"She's letting them eat her?" Andrea asked, horrified.
"She's destroying the evidence," Ren said. "And escaping in the steam. Get ready. Phase 2 starts now."
The Ambush
In the chaos of the steam and feeding frenzy, a hooded figure using ODM gear zipped past Levi Squad, undetected by everyone except Ren.
The figure landed ahead, transformed again.
BOOM.
A fresh lightning strike shook the forest. The Female Titan reappeared, fully regenerated, directly in the path of Levi Squad.
"Gunther! Look out!" Eren screamed.
In the original timeline, Gunther died here, sliced by Annie's blades before she transformed. But Ren had altered the timeline by sensing her.
The Female Titan lunged, her fist hardened into a diamond-like crystal, aiming to crush the entire squad.
"Not today," Ren said.
Ren leaped from his horse.
[Skill: Limit Breaker (Speed Burst)]
[Skill: ODM Gear Proficiency (Master)]
He didn't need to transform yet. He launched his grapple hooks into the trees, swinging with impossible velocity.
He intercepted the punch.
He didn't block it with his body; he blocked it with Telekinesis.
[Skill: Telekinesis (Force Wall: Max Output)]
CRASH.
The Female Titan's fist hit an invisible barrier mid-air. The impact created a shockwave that stripped the bark off nearby trees. Annie's eyes widened. What?
Ren landed on a branch between Annie and Levi Squad.
"Go!" Ren ordered the squad. "Get Eren out of here!"
"Ren?!" Petra gasped. "You stopped a Titan punch with... nothing?"
"GO!" Ren roared.
Levi Squad grabbed Eren and grapple-hooked away.
Annie snarled. She ignored Ren and tried to chase Eren.
Ren smirked. "I don't think so."
He brought his hand to his mouth.
CRUNCH.
[Transformation: Sovereign Titan.]
Yellow lightning obliterated the canopy.
The Sovereign Titan landed in the clearing with an earth-shattering thud. Fifteen meters. White armored plating. Glowing blue eyes.
Annie skidded to a stop. She turned to face him. She recognized the stance. The Muay Thai stance.
Ren raised his fists. He didn't summon the Warhammer yet. He wanted to beat her at her own game.
Clash of the Titans
Annie was faster. She dashed in, throwing a low kick aimed at Ren's knee.
Ren checked the kick with his armored shin. CLANG. It sounded like two trains colliding.
Annie spun, using the momentum for a high heel kick to Ren's head.
Ren ducked under it—a move a Titan shouldn't be agile enough to do, but Ren's Agility 40 transferred to his Titan form.
He delivered a brutal uppercut to her stomach.
BOOF.
Annie gasped, her feet lifting off the ground.
Ren grabbed her arm and judo-threw her into a massive redwood tree. The tree snapped in half, falling on top of her.
"Hirano! Maggie! Now!" Ren commanded via telepathy.
On the high branches, Hirano and Maggie lay prone with their Barrett M82 .50 Cal Snipers.
"Targeting joints!" Hirano yelled, grinning like a maniac.
BANG. BANG.
The heavy anti-material rounds slammed into Annie's knees. She tried to harden, but she was too slow recovering from the throw. The bullets shattered her kneecaps.
Annie shrieked, falling to one knee.
"Saeko! Cut the hamstrings!"
Saeko Busujima dropped from the canopy. The Murasame glowed red, vibrating at high frequency.
She spun like a top, slashing through the back of Annie's ankles.
ZING.
The high-frequency blade sliced through muscle and bone.
Annie collapsed face-first into the dirt.
Ren walked over. He stood over her.
Annie was desperate. She hardened her nape, creating a crystal cocoon to protect her human body.
Ren looked down at the crystal nape.
"You think diamond saves you?" Ren's Titan voice boomed.
Ren raised his right hand.
[Titan Skill: Warhammer Construction.]
White matter knitted together, forming a spiked warhammer.
But Ren added something extra.
[Skill: Electro-Magnetism (Level 2).]
[Skill: Elementalist: Lightning.]
Ren poured his mana into the hammer. Blue lightning wreathed the weapon. He magnetized the crystal spikes to vibrate at a frequency matching the Murasame.
"Knock knock," Ren said.
He swung.
KRA-KOOM!
The hammer struck Annie's hardened nape.
The crystal didn't just crack; it shattered. The vibration combined with the brute force pulverized her defenses.
Annie's Titan body went limp. The nape was exposed.
Inside, Annie Leonhart looked up, blood running down her face, terror in her eyes. She tried to bite her tongue to encase herself in a personal crystal.
Ren ripped her out of the Titan before she could do it.
His massive armored fingers pinched her cloak delicately. He lifted her screaming form into the air.
He squeezed her jaw so she couldn't bite anything.
"Gotcha," Ren said.
The Victory
The forest went silent.
Levi Squad returned, landing on the branches around the Sovereign Titan. Eren stared, mouth agape.
"He... he caught her," Gunther whispered. "Alive."
Ren (Sovereign Titan) knelt down. He carefully placed Annie in the palm of his hand, using his thumb to pin her down.
Ren emerged from his own nape, landing on his Titan's hand next to the captive Annie.
He looked at her. She was crying, defeated.
"Annie Leonhart," Ren said cold, looking down at her. "The Warrior. You played a good game."
He pulled a gag from his inventory (prepared for this exact moment) and shoved it in her mouth, tying it tight. Then he used heavy-duty zip ties on her wrists and ankles.
"Ren!" Erwin Smith rode into the clearing, flanked by Hange.
Hange looked at the captured Female Titan carcass and then at the girl in Ren's grasp.
"Is that..." Erwin started.
"The spy," Ren confirmed. "Annie Leonhart of the Military Police."
Eren landed on the hand. "Annie? No... it can't be. She taught me how to fight."
"She also killed your squadmates in the original plan," Ren thought, but out loud he said, "She's a soldier for the other side, Eren. A child soldier sent to kill devils. But she lost."
Ren looked at Erwin.
"Mission accomplished, Commander. Levi Squad is alive. The enemy is captured. And we have her power."
[Quest Completed: The Female Titan Hunt.]
[Objectives Met: Capture Annie (Check), Save Levi Squad (Check).]
[Reward: 5,000 System Points.]
[Bonus Reward: Titan Hardening Mastery (Crystal Shell) - Unlocked.]
[Bonus Reward: 'Annie Leonhart' Status - Prisoner of War (Breakable).]
The Return Journey
The ride back to the Wall was victorious but tense. Annie was bound, gagged, and blindfolded in a wagon, guarded by Saeko and Mikasa (who was glaring daggers at her).
Ren rode beside the wagon.
"What now?" Maggie asked, riding up beside him. "We have her. Do we kill her?"
"No," Ren said. "We turn her."
"Turn her?" Maggie scoffed. "She killed hundreds."
"She has information on the world outside," Ren said. "And more importantly... she has a father waiting for her. Leverage."
Ren looked at the setting sun.
"We go back to the capital. We expose the truth. And then..."
He looked at his System.
[Next World Jump Available.]
[Destination: Game of Thrones (Westeros).]
[Objective: Secure Dragon Eggs. Recruit Daenerys Targaryen.]
Ren smiled.
"Then we go get some pets."