Wall Rose, Inner District – A Residential Building
"Madam… you wouldn't want your husband to be killed by me, would you?"
Kawa licked his lips as he looked at the woman standing before him.
Back when he had lived within Wall Sina, he had indulged himself with countless women. Now his standards had grown pickier; he had searched the commoner district for quite some time before finding one with decent looks.
Ever since leaving Wall Sina, he'd noticed that the farther outward one lived, the rougher people's skin became. The women of the royal capital had been delicate and refined—those were truly nostalgic days.
Thinking of it, Kawa felt desire rise again. His eyes greedily traced the curves before him.
"Wh-what are you going to do? Please, don't hurt him!" the woman cried, her face pale with fear, not daring to resist.
"Elena, run! Don't worry about me!" the bound man shouted desperately to his wife.
"No! Jack!" Tears burst from Elena's eyes.
"Ah… what tragic, beautiful love. How disgusting! Why have I never even dated anyone, while you get to enjoy such a wonderful romance?" Zeno Kawa's face twisted as he kicked Jack hard.
Jack doubled over, his face flushing red as he coughed violently.
"What exactly do you want?!" Elena cried in anguish.
"Your name's Elena, right? Call me 'husband' first," Kawa said mockingly, stroking his mushroom-cut hair.
"No! Never!" Elena refused without hesitation.
"Hm?" Without another word, Kawa kicked Jack again—this time striking his chin.
"Ahhh!" Jack screamed miserably, spitting out broken teeth and mouthfuls of blood.
"No! I'll say it! I'll say it! Husband…" Elena sobbed in surrender.
"Yoshi. Now take off your clothes and come here," Kawa said as he began unfastening his belt.
Elena closed her eyes in grief and humiliation. After she undressed, Kawa's eyes burned with feverish intensity as he forced her down to her knees.
Jack struggled in agony beside them… until, in despair, he shut his eyes.
Eight minutes later, Kawa let out a long breath.
"Subarashii~"
"That damn Chinese bastard… Mikasa, Historia—sooner or later they'll belong to me." His face twisted grotesquely.
The moment he saw the name "Chen Si," he understood it was Chinese. On the public bulletin board inside the walls, Chen Si had deliberately requested that his name be written with Chinese characters in parentheses. Though the military's publicity department had found it strange, they complied out of respect for his position.
To the people within the Walls, those characters were merely decorative symbols. But to Kawa, they ignited a warped obsession.
"These… these are Chinese characters! How can there be Chinese characters here?!" His pupils had trembled with fury when he first saw them.
In his mind, anime characters created by Japan belonged to Japan. Chen Si had no right to touch them. Every female character here—even background girls—belonged to him.
"This place is my paradise." He licked his lips again, wiped away the drool, and adjusted his clothes.
Before leaving, Kawa slit Jack's throat. He spared Elena—for now. There would be a next time.
After he left, Elena cried out her husband's name in agony.
Not long after, Marcel—who had been missing for some time—arrived at Jack and Elena's home with bread he'd bought from the bakery. He knocked on the door.
"Sister Elena! Brother Jack! I came to see you!"
From inside came Elena's wails of grief.
Marcel's expression tightened. He hurried inside and saw Jack's lifeless body, his face drenched in blood. Elena, disheveled and broken, clung to him.
Marcel pressed his fingers to Jack's pulse, then looked grimly at Elena.
"Sister Elena, tell me what happened. I swear I'll avenge you." Rage boiled in his heart.
When Marcel had first come to Wall Rose, he hadn't known where to begin. Learning that Reiner and the others would remain in the Cadet Corps for three years, he simply sought a place to stay.
At first, believing all Eldians were devils, he refused to seek help and wandered the streets. Until one day, passing a bakery, kind Elena gave him a piece of bread. That was how he met their family.
During his hardest days, he stayed with them for a time. It was Jack who introduced him to another bakery, where he found work and eventually moved out.
Three years of life here had been unexpectedly fulfilling. Though the technology was backward, he had felt a warmth of human kindness he hadn't experienced in a long time. Knowing his time here was short, he cherished it deeply.
So deeply that for three years, he had never once met up with Reiner and the others.
"It was a criminal… he threatened me… killed Jack…" Elena couldn't continue. She soon fainted from grief.
"Sister Elena! Sister Elena!" Marcel called anxiously, carrying her to the bed and arranging Jack's body respectfully.
He hadn't even had time to ask what the culprit looked like—though he doubted she could have described him clearly.
Marcel clenched his fists. Eldian devils… I won't forgive you.
He knew Reiner and the others had already begun their operation. Refugees from Trost District were flooding into the inner city. After one last look at Elena, he resolved to care for her briefly before reuniting with Reiner to begin the mission.
"That woman, Carla, didn't die after all…" Kawa had learned that Carla Yeager, Eren's mother, was working as a cook in a military barracks within Wall Rose.
At the thought, he licked his lips. A mature beauty…
If he could control Carla, he would always have leverage. With her in his hands, Eren wouldn't be able to trigger the Rumbling.
He had feared the Rumbling before—feared he'd be trapped living on Paradis Island forever. But the more he thought about it, the more excited he became. As long as Bertholdt and Reiner destroyed the Survey Corps and captured Eren and Carla, everything would fall perfectly into place.
The only problem was that the military camp wouldn't be easy to infiltrate. There were likely skilled fighters there. He would need to find Marcel.
Kawa continued plotting.
Trost District – Garrison Headquarters
Jean, Marco, Reiner, and the others finally reached the headquarters building, though many of their comrades had fallen.
Jean looked around, cold sweat running down his back.
How many made it here? How many died because I rallied them forward? I survived by stepping over so many lives…
He covered his face, torn between guilt and terror.
When he spotted the supply soldiers hiding under desks, his pent-up anger exploded. He dragged one out and began punching him.
"It's because you cowards refused to help that so many people died for nothing! You deserve to die!" Jean roared.
"The supply station was overrun by Titans early on—we couldn't do anything!" a female soldier cried.
"Isn't dealing with that your job?!" Jean shouted back.
Suddenly, a massive gust tore through the air from outside.
"Get down!" Reiner yelled.
A Titan's head smashed through the wall and forced its way inside. Everyone stared at the grotesque face wedged into the building.
Silence fell.
Then the Titan's eye moved—slowly turning to look directly at them.
"AHHHHH!!!"
"Help! Someone help!!"
"Mom! Mommy!!"
"Where's Mikasa?! Where did Mikasa go?!"
"She's probably dead already! Now it's our turn!!"
In that moment, the full spectrum of human despair was laid bare. Every last person was consumed by terror, stripped of the will to resist.