Running at full speed, Lock reached the roof of Harry's blacksmith shop. He found that Uncle Harry and Aunt Martha had already left. A small sigh of relief escaped him.
But that relief was short-lived. The pounding of heavy footsteps echoed through the streets — Titans were closing in from all sides.
Because the survivors had fled in haste, most stragglers had already been devoured. That left Lock — the only human still in sight — and every Titan nearby instantly locked onto him.
One by one, they began to converge.
"Since Uncle and the others aren't here," Lock muttered dryly, licking his parched lips, "it's time for me to leave."
Suppressing his rising urge to cut down every Titan in sight, he turned and leapt toward the direction of Wall Maria's gate. His mind spun with calculations.
If I remember correctly, the breach happened earlier than in the original timeline… which means much of what I know might already be useless.
His thoughts drifted to Grisha Yeager. By his recollection, Grisha should have already gone inland to practice medicine — far from Shiganshina — before the fall. That was when he stole the power of the Founding Titan.
But what if, in this altered timeline, Grisha never left?
Lock clenched his jaw.
If that's the case, I might still have room to act before everything falls apart.
His train of thought broke when a massive shadow blocked the street ahead.
Standing in the center of the main road was a towering, fifteen-meter Titan — its entire body sheathed in hardened plates of armor.
The Armored Titan. Reiner Braun.
"...So it's happening already."
Lock stopped at the edge of a rooftop, eyes fixed on Reiner, who was gathering momentum for a full-speed charge toward Wall Maria.
Should I intervene?
If he killed Reiner here, countless tragedies could be prevented. The breach, the retreat, the years of suffering — all of it.
But one wrong move meant death.
And even if he succeeded… what then?
He couldn't inherit a Titan's power at will — it required a deliberate choice and a price: thirteen years of life.
Even if forced to take one, the Armored Titan wasn't the power he wanted.
No. There was no reason to act. Not yet.
Reiner roared, breaking into a sprint. The ground shook beneath his charge as he slammed straight into Wall Maria's gate.
The thunderous impact shattered stone and iron alike.
Lock watched the dust and smoke rise into the air, a faint tremor passing through his chest.
With that one strike, Shiganshina — and Wall Maria — had fallen.
Sighing softly, he whispered to himself, "From beginning to end… I've always been selfish."
He let the words fade and turned toward the gate.
The collapse was a tragedy — but also an opportunity.
The Survey Corps had long been ridiculed, their status diminished. But this disaster would shift everything.
When humanity needed heroes, the ones who ventured outside the walls would become indispensable.
And if Lock wanted to change the order of this world, he needed more than rank or recognition.
He needed power — Titan power.
Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie — all Marleyan warriors. For now, he couldn't confront them head-on.
But in time, he would claim the three powers that mattered most: the Attack Titan, the Founding Titan, and the Jaw Titan.
Those would be his weapons to rewrite fate itself.
Lost in thought, Lock reached the entrance of Wall Maria.
What greeted him was chaos — soldiers and civilians scattering in panic, smoke filling the air. The city gate lay in ruins, crushed by Reiner's charge.
Amid the crowd, Petra, Eld, Oluo, and Gunther stood out, their composure marking them as Survey Corps veterans.
Even so, the sight of the Armored Titan had shaken them.
They had faced countless Titans beyond the walls, but never one so unyielding — a creature that shrugged off artillery and shattered a gate in one blow.
Thankfully, after breaching the gate, the Armored Titan had vanished — a small miracle amid disaster.
Spotting Lock approaching, Petra rushed over, relief and anger warring on her face.
"Why are you only showing up now?!" she snapped, though the worry in her eyes betrayed her.
Eld, Oluo, and Gunther wore similar expressions.
Lock didn't answer. There was no time. The rumbling footsteps of Titans echoed closer by the second.
"This place can't be held," Lock said firmly. "Delay them as much as possible so the civilians can escape by water."
Eld nodded grimly. "That's the only option."
A heavy silence settled over the group.
They didn't lack courage — but the odds were impossible. Dozens of Titans against five soldiers.
The garrison troops were in shambles, their discipline long eroded by years of peace. Many stood frozen in terror; others fled.
Their once-practiced maneuvering was sloppy, desperate.
Lock drew his blades, watching as the first Titans breached the plaza.
The fall of Wall Maria had begun. Humanity's outermost fortress was lost.
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