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089 The Titan of Fate
🕑 Added 2025-12-27 17:06:42 +0000 UTC"Report to Commander Erwin! The operation was a success!"
Inside the command tent, Erwin, who had his hands clasped together, lowered them after hearing the soldier's report and let out a long sigh of relief.
"Oh? You caught them? Take me to see them, quickly!"
Hange, standing to the side, instantly lit up with excitement. Without even saying hello, she dashed out. Moblit, who had been guarding outside the tent, froze as he watched Hange streak past like a gust of wind.
"Squad Leader! Wait for me!" Moblit hurried after her.
Erwin glanced around and saw that everyone was gone. He gently shook his head and smiled, memories of last night surfacing in his mind.
...
Originally, even Erwin was not certain who exactly the enemy among the new recruits was, so the initial plan had been to detain all of them. However, late last night, the recruits Armin Arlert and Eren came to see him. After listening to Armin's analysis, Erwin was deeply inspired.
"There are only two people who could possibly be Titans: Reiner Braun and Bertholdt Hoover!"
At the time, Armin's expression was firm. Indeed, following his analysis, every clue pointed toward those two recruits.
Armin then proposed a concrete battle plan: use the time when equipment was being swapped to scatter all the recruits. As for confirming the enemy's true identity, that would actually be quite simple.
"Their target is Eren. Right now we're on Wall Rose. For enemies who want to take Eren, if he appears right in front of them without any guard, wouldn't that timing be perfect? With a single leap, they could potentially shake off the pursuit of most of the Survey Corps."
Armin laid out his reasoning clearly. After some thought, Erwin agreed to the plan, which led to the situation just now.
However, as Erwin stood up from his chair, he noticed that Mike had not returned together with the recruits. According to Nanaba's report, ever since Mike went alone to draw the Titans away, there had been no further news. It was possible that…
"Mike, humanity's second-strongest soldier—don't fall at the very brink of victory."
Erwin silently prayed in his heart.
...
On the other side.
"What?! Reiner and Bertholdt are the Titans who destroyed the walls?! How is that possible?! Hey, Armin, don't joke around!"
Jean Kirstein shouted as he questioned Armin in front of him.
Armin knew that although it sounded unbelievable, it was the truth.
The other recruits were naturally unwilling to believe that Reiner and the others could be the Titans who breached the walls.
Connie fell silent. He recalled how, back in his village, Reiner had encouraged him to fight for hundreds of thousands of people.
"How could Reiner possibly…"
Mina covered her mouth, disbelief written all over her eyes. The Reiner everyone knew had always been so trustworthy.
"Damn it! Can you let us see Reiner and the others?"
Jean clenched his teeth. In the end, he accepted the reality, but he still wanted to confront Reiner in person and ask why. Three years of fighting side by side—many trainees hadn't even managed to survive long enough to graduate from the training corps.
When Trost District was breached, so many trainees died in the jaws of Titans. Mady, Ilse, Thomas… and Marco also lost a leg and was crippled. With such tragic consequences, what were Reiner and the others doing all this for?!
Armin said, "That… probably won't be possible for now. Reiner and Bertholdt are under guard. Captain Levi is watching them. We won't be able to get close."
Jean unwillingly clenched his fists.
"Ymir, Ymir, what's wrong? Why are you spacing out? Did you hear? Reiner and Bertholdt turned out to be Titans."
Historia shook Ymir's shoulder beside her.
Pulled back from her daze, Ymir looked at Historia. Worry was written all over the girl's face—clearly, Reiner and Bertholdt's identities had dealt her a heavy blow.
"Hey, Historia, I told you a long time ago that Reiner wasn't up to any good, right?" Ymir said.
But Historia lowered her head and replied,
"But Reiner and the others… they once fought desperately to save me too."
Ymir didn't respond. At this moment, she herself was full of hesitation—her own identity was also a secret.
...
Dozens of fully armed Survey Corps soldiers stood guard around a tent. Closest to it was the elite of the Survey Corps—the Levi Squad. Although Levi Squad had lost two of its fighting forces, no one doubted that it had become any weaker.
"Captain, Squad Leader Hange went in just now," Petra reported to Levi.
Levi frowned slightly. He had also noticed Moblit waiting outside. After entering the tent, sure enough, Hange was squatting on the ground with an excited expression, chattering endlessly at the two tightly bound figures in front of her, wrapped up like giant rice dumplings.
Two cork batons were stuffed into Reiner's and Bertholdt's mouths to prevent them from hurting themselves and transforming. Eren had cooperated with Hange on many experiments before, so they had already figured out the mechanism of Titan transformation: an intense mental state combined with physical injury to trigger Titan power.
"This is just too amazing! Bertholdt, what does it feel like to turn into a Titan taller than the wall? Reiner, how many grenades can the Armored Titan withstand? And $#%@—"
Hange bombarded them with questions, completely ignoring the fact that their mouths were firmly blocked. (Reiner, Bertholdt: At least loosen our mouths so we can talk!)
"What an idiot."
Levi scoffed. After saying that, he walked out of the tent on his own. That Hange—just let her be.
Bang.
"Sorry! I wasn't paying attention—really sorry!"
A Survey Corps soldier bumped into Levi and hurriedly apologized.
"It's fine."
Levi naturally didn't care about such a small matter. He patted his clothes and left. But after taking a few steps, something felt off. He turned back and glanced again at the soldier from before. Slightly wavy hair—a female soldier. But somehow, it felt like he had never seen her before.
Still, Levi noticed nothing unusual about the other Survey Corps members. Some of them even greeted that female soldier, so he didn't think any further about it.
...
After rescuing a little girl from a village, Sasha entrusted the child to her father's care and quickly returned to the Survey Corps. This operation had also deeply shocked the simple-minded girl—Reiner and Bertholdt were actually Titans?!
If Sasha were to judge, she would definitely think that Mikasa, who always used her as a scapegoat, looked far more like a terrifying Titan than Reiner and the others.
So Sasha could only turn her grief into appetite and sneak a few fragrant potatoes from the logistics squad.
"Sasha, are the potatoes good?"
"Of course they are. Want some too?"
Sasha, who was blissfully gnawing on a potato, suddenly froze and stiffly turned her head.
"Eh!! Yago!"
Sasha was completely shocked—the potato in her hand fell to the ground. Back during the battle in the giant tree forest, the recruits had received word that Yago had died in action while fighting the Female Titan.
"A ghost!! Don't grab me! I'll give you all the potatoes! Please don't grab me—I—I'm not full yet, wuwuwu!"
Awkwardness was written all over Yago's face. Mike, whom he was supporting at his side, was also speechless. The Survey Corps really had characters like this?
