A harsh, grinding roar. Annie, steering the Female Titan, had only climbed halfway when she saw the Colossal Titan's curtain fall—its head sloughed off like a landslide, plummeting toward the Jaw Titan climbing up.
All at once, she remembered something Bertolt had said back when they were still Warrior Candidates.
They'd just enrolled, all green as grass, sitting together under an instructor's lead, sharing views on each Titan power.
Bertolt had said: "The Colossal Titan is the strongest—no question. Even if someone gets close, its high-temperature steam will blast them away."
Someone had laughed and asked, "And if someone climbs up through a blind spot the Colossal can't reach? If the steam can't drive them off?"
Annie remembered clearly: Bertolt gave an unexpected answer.
Not "cancel the Colossal and run," not "drop the huge body prone."
Because both were near to surrender. If you cancel the Colossal, you're back in a fragile human body on a battlefield and easy prey. If you lie the Colossal down, you move even slower, and afterward—because of that bloated size—you won't be able to rise again. In short, lie down and you'll never stand; you'll wait to be killed.
To solve this fatal problem, Bertolt offered a tactic the military approved:
Abandon the Colossal's head—snap the neck yourself—and use the falling skull as a sweeping, lethal strike against anyone trying to climb the body.
The Colossal's head is enormous; its impact range is huge. Unless you can move dozens of meters in a blink, you won't dodge. You'll be crushed to paste.
Now the Colossal's head had thundered down. Which meant Roger's Jaw Titan had climbed high enough to threaten it, forcing Bertolt to "cut off the head" and discard it.
Annie didn't know if it had worked. She climbed faster, glancing upward as she went.
Suddenly she saw the spent Colossal—and Bertolt standing in the steam at the back of its neck.
Cancelling and fleeing.
Toppling the Colossal.
Both were dead ends.
Which meant—
Annie froze. A bad hunch tugged at her. The Female Titan widened its eyes to see.
Bertolt stood atop that vast carcass and drew a small knife from his breast.
Through Annie's distant gaze, he drove the blade into his temple.
Blood rose. Bertolt tipped sideways into the dusty haze like a flag hacked from its pole.
With the brain destroyed, the command system was gone; soon his cells would lose activity. The Titan power would depart and be born anew in some unknown Eldian infant.
Who knew where. But the Colossal Titan was already lost.
"Bertolt…"
Annie spoke her comrade's name. Her eyes went dead and dull.
There was no point in climbing further. Without the Colossal's firepower, the Female Titan was no match for the trio inside Roger—War Hammer, Jaw, and Armored.
Which meant retreat was the only smart choice.
But Marley…
"At least we leave here first."
Annie finally said what she'd been holding in. She didn't want to stay another second.
The Female Titan braced hands and feet to the Wall, controlled her descent, and hit the ground, looming before the Cart Titan.
Pieck hadn't seen what the Female Titan had seen, but if the Female had come down and called for retreat, the Cart had to fulfill its duty.
"Get on!"
The Cart Titan's voice rasped, shouting up.
Annie knew the Female Titan was slower than the Cart. She slipped out from the nape and leapt to the Cart's head, grabbing its fur.
BOOM!
Without a pilot, the Female Titan collapsed and began steaming away.
Seated on the Cart's head, Annie burned with heat, her skin mapped by red ridges left by transformation.
The Cart Titan ran. Fast. On open streets it flew, arrowing for Wall Rose's gate—aiming to break out of the Walls.
Along the way, humans died under its feet and against its chest in uncountable numbers. They had no time to dodge; the Cart was too fast.
Up on the Wall, Roger's Jaw Titan caught Bertolt's lifeless body, the blade still buried in his temple.
The man was dead. The Colossal's power would soon dissipate.
Roger could feel it clearly—something was missing inside Bertolt. He was only a human shell now.
Gently he laid the body on the stones, beside a dark smear of mangled flesh (Rod Reiss). Controlling the Jaw Titan, Roger stood on the rampart and watched the Cart Titan flee.
He slipped from the nape of the Jaw-Armored-War Hammer Titan and drew in the cool evening air, quietly seeing them off.
He knew he couldn't catch the Cart Titan. Chasing would be a waste.
But the humans nearby, clustering toward him, didn't see it that way.
Bang!!
A signal flare cracked. A yellow plume rose for all to see.
Erwin gave the order to pursue. Soldiers fired their ODM lines and hurled themselves after the Cart with everything they had.
Just as Roger expected, they couldn't catch it—not even brush its fur.
Many burned through their gas in moments and had to break off.
Some followed the Cart up Wall Rose, but were soon shaken off, the gap stretching long.
"As expected of you, Pieck."
Roger allowed himself one quiet compliment, then turned to find Erwin—along with Dot Pixis and Nile Dok—waiting behind him.
"Let's talk, Roger Eikam."
"Tomorrow. I'm tired."
Roger waved them off and started past.
The hiss of ODM. Hooks yanked taut and reeled. Then—an unknown blade flashed hard for Roger's head.
"Roger!!!"
The attacker's shout ripped out—but their voice trembled with fear.
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