Yago gazed at the surrounding pure-white space, an endless expanse in every direction.
This space—when Yago had once accepted the enhancement of the Female Titan and the Jaw Titan's powers, he seemed to have come here before, and had even seen Annie's and Ymir's memories here.
"I hope that was real." Yago took a deep breath, then closed his eyes.
Then, within the pure-white space, something seemed to begin appearing.
When Yago opened his eyes again, two figures had already appeared before him. Historia and Ymir, both clad in white robes, stood quietly in front of Yago with their eyes closed.
Of course, these two bodies were merely constructs of Yago's imagination and did not represent anything real.
Around Ymir, a mass of light swirled. However, the color of the light was not quite right—most of it was a dull gray glow, while a smaller portion was a dim earthy yellow, and that earthy yellow was growing increasingly faint.
Looking at Historia instead, she too was surrounded by a mass of light. The difference was that Historia's light was largely earthy yellow, and the gray light looked as though it was about to be completely covered by the earthy yellow glow.
With the memories in his mind, Yago naturally understood what this represented. The gray light was the Pure Titan, while the colored light represented the power of the Intelligent Titan.
"So this is the transfer of Titan power?" Yago looked at the scene before him with slight amazement. Then he lowered his head—several clusters of light were also circling around him.
Golden light, earthy yellow light, pure white light.
"The Female Titan's power, the Jaw Titan's power, and… the Fate Titan's power." Yago's gaze grew deep. Sure enough, the voice in his mind had not lied to him.
Although he did not know what that voice's purpose was, Yago could not afford to care about that for now.
Staring intently at the lights of Historia and Ymir, finally—at the moment when Ymir's light was completely shrouded by gray light, and Historia's Titan light turned entirely earthy yellow—
Ymir's light dimmed until it was almost extinguished.
"Now!" Yago suddenly reached out his hand. Following the direction of his fingers, the white light beside Yago violently erupted, countless points of radiance surging toward Ymir's fading light.
Using a portion of the Fate Titan's light to make up for the dissipation of Ymir's light, Yago felt as though his head had been struck heavily, his consciousness turning dizzy and muddled.
Even so, he clenched his teeth and held on.
...
Outside.
The once-rampaging Historia Titan and the Fate Titan both strangely fell into stillness. Neither made any movement.
After this standoff lasted for quite some time, "Roar…" the Fate Titan let out a low growl. The crimson glow in its eyes dimmed as well. It yanked its arm out of the Historia Titan's mouth, staggered, swayed a few times, and then collapsed heavily to the ground.
The massive body began to evaporate the instant it hit the ground.
"Yago!" Seeing this scene, Annie was frantic with worry. She directly broke open the nape of the Female Titan, activated her Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, and flew toward the Fate Titan's nape.
"Commander, what—what is going on?" A Survey Corps soldier stood dumbfounded. What was happening? That Titan had been lively just moments ago—how did it suddenly become as weak as an eighty-year-old man?
"Everyone, look—Historia!" Armin cried out, pointing to the side.
Everyone turned to look. At the nape of a thirty-meter-tall Titan that was dissipating, a small figure had already emerged.
Slash! Annie anxiously cut open the Fate Titan's nape with her blades, laboriously pushing aside the muscle and sinew in front of her. Finally, she saw the emblem of the Wings of Freedom.
"Yago! Yago!" Seeing that her calls went unanswered, Annie hurriedly tossed aside her blades and dragged Yago out from the tangled mass of flesh and blood.
Tearing away the gore clinging to his face, Annie's eyes filled with tears. Thankfully, Yago was still conscious, though he looked extremely weak.
"A-Annie, I'm… fine. I'm just a little tired." After speaking, Yago's body swayed and fell toward Annie, who carefully caught him.
Lying in Annie's arms, Yago finally let out a breath of relief and closed his eyes to rest.
But the cold sensation of a drop on his face made Yago open his eyes again in confusion.
What met his gaze was Annie's tear-filled eyes and tightly clenched lips.
Yago had never seen Annie like this before. He panicked at once, struggling to lift his arm, wanting to wipe away her tears.
"You idiot! Can you stop being so reckless every time?! Every single time you make me worry about you! Next time you want to do something, can't you tell me first?! Damn it, idiot Yago!"
Yago was stunned. It seemed… that really was the case. Every time, Yago acted on his own without letting Annie be involved. He had always thought it was for Annie's sake, but he had forgotten that Annie also had a very strong-willed personality.
"I'm sorry, Annie. It's my fault. I—I didn't think it through. I'm really sorry. I just wanted to protect you. Next time…"
Before he could finish, in the next moment, Annie's face moved close to Yago's. What followed was not suitable for children, so the author won't go into details—everyone can imagine it themselves.
"There won't be a next time!"
Yago froze, but feeling the softness that had just brushed his lips, he suddenly felt that his body didn't seem quite so weak anymore.
"Ymir… why… Ymir…" At this moment, Historia, who had successfully inherited the Jaw Titan's power, also awakened. Having inherited the Jaw Titan's power, Historia naturally saw Ymir's memories as well.
What Ymir had said before was not true. She had once told Historia that their circumstances were the same, but after seeing Ymir's memories, Historia realized that Ymir's past had been even more tragic than her own—and now she had sacrificed her life to save her.
As the steam from the Titans' evaporation gradually dissipated, everyone slowly came to see the situation clearly. Annie was holding Yago, while Mina and Sasha supported Historia.
"So… is this really how it ends?" Hange sighed, but this did seem to be the best possible ending.
"His—His—Historia…" A weak call drew everyone's attention, especially Historia. Upon hearing this voice, Historia's body began to tremble.
Following the source of the sound, the Fate Titan's fist—which had originally been tightly clenched—relaxed as it evaporated. A figure was curled up there, letting out a faint call.
"Ymir!!" Historia broke free from those supporting her and stumbled toward that figure, pulling Ymir into a tight embrace.
"Wuwuwu… Ymir, you didn't leave me. Wuwuwu… that's wonderful, Ymir…"
"This—this is impossible!?" The most shocked of all was Annie, once a Marleyan warrior. To inherit a previous Titan's power, one had to eat the previous Titan's host—how could this be?
As if seeing through Annie's confusion, Yago smiled and said, "This is the power of the Fate Titan. Ymir is an ordinary human now. So, Annie—am I amazing or what?"
Smack! Annie lightly tapped Yago on the head in annoyance.
"Idiot! Next time you're not allowed to act on impulse without telling me!"
(Everyone can guess who the voice in Yago's mind really is? And what abilities the Fate Titan currently has? You can all take a guess~ (?︶?))
...
I recommend checking out my new Pokémon fanfic, "Pokémon System: Me, the Strongest Champion of the League"! It features a system that isn't overpowered, keeping the story balanced and engaging. The main character isn't Ash, but an original, cool MC, which makes it even more enjoyable to read. I'd love to hear your feedback!