The Armored Titan was born for the gate.
This was not about Reiner—really, it wasn't.
But with the thunderous arrival of that plated monster, Zeke instantly understood what was about to happen.
That hulking body, wrapped in hardened muscle and armor-like plates, was preparing for a single devastating action: to break through the next city gate.
And yet…
It had nothing to do with him.
"Let's go! Keep moving forward and head for the dock!" Zeke barked, his voice steady despite the earth trembling under the Titan's steps.
Behind him, Hannes's face had gone pale.
His legs shook so violently they barely seemed capable of carrying his weight. He stared at the Titan with wide, helpless eyes.
"He… he's watching us!" Hannes stammered, his words half a sob, half a plea.
"Let him look if he wants," Zeke replied without hesitation. "We are not his target anyway. Let's go!"
He shoved Hannes forward, forcing the man's unwilling legs to move. They needed to reach the so-called "safe zone" arranged by the Shiganshina District Government—if such a thing even existed.
But Hannes resisted, panting. "How do you know he's not targeting us?"
"Because his target is the door!" Zeke snapped. "That Titan can only ram doors. He can't do anything else!"
The words were not meant as an insult, though they might have sounded like one. No—this was a cold summary of Reiner's record from Zeke's previous life.
He had realized then, and saw clearly now, that Reiner's greatest destructive power always came down to one thing: smashing through gates.
Unexpectedly, Hannes stiffened, his trembling stilled by a sudden burst of grim determination.
"The inner gate…" His voice cracked. "Is that giant's target the inner gate? No! No, we can't let him break it! If he does, humanity will have no choice but to retreat behind the second wall. By then… half of our territory will be gone!"
"Inner gate?" Ji Kelan, the newcomer among them, blinked in confusion.
His eyes darted from Hannes to Zeke, not understanding the urgency. "How many gates are there? Isn't one already broken? Isn't that enough?"
But Hannes, strangely, found courage in this moment. His fists clenched as he shouted, "Each wall has four protruding districts—north, south, east, and west. Those districts are our buffer zones
When Titans attack, the inner gate is sealed shut. We trap the monsters in the buffer zone and then concentrate our soldiers to annihilate them!"
"Concentrate… annihilate?" Zeke raised an eyebrow, the words heavy with doubt.
He wanted to laugh, but the sound wouldn't come. Since leaving that dead-end alley, not a single soldier had appeared.
Not one member of the Garrison, not one flash of steel from the omnidirectional mobility gear.
No wings of freedom cutting through the sky.
Nothing.
If this was what they called "concentrated annihilation," it was a cruel joke. The troops had already been routed—crushed without resistance.
This was nothing like the Survey Corps of Zeke's memory. Not the fearless men and women who fought Titans with blades, who risked everything to push into the unknown.
These here were shadows, broken before the battle had even begun.
"Right now," Hannes continued, his face flushed with desperate energy, "our priority is to ensure the people are safe! We must evacuate them through the inner gate! Once they're safe… then, and only then, will we annihilate the Titans!"
"Oh, oh," Zeke muttered, pushing Hannes along again, his tone perfunctory.
He had heard enough.
So this was the grand plan?
To sacrifice Shiganshina as bait, luring Titans into the buffer zone so that the rest of humanity could retreat behind the inner gate? In other words—sacrifice the few to save the many.
A cruel strategy, yes, but effective.
Bertolt had already destroyed the outer gate, leaving Shiganshina to be the only victim.
Now Reiner would destroy the inner gate. And if that happened, humanity's line of defense would shrink back to Wall Rose.
One more retreat. One more cage.
Behind him, the Armored Titan crouched low, every muscle taut, plates grinding against each other as it readied its charge. Even without the transformation's steam, the air grew hot, oppressive. The sheer weight of its presence pressed against Zeke's back.
He glanced only once. Reiner's body gleamed under the sun, a monstrous sculpture of muscle and armor.
A figure born to destroy.
But Zeke turned away. He only cared about one thing: getting his people—Carla, Mikasa, and young Eren—to safety.
"No!" Hannes suddenly shouted, his voice breaking. "We can't just leave! We can't let him break the inner gate! Hero, please—you must stop him!"
Zeke's jaw tightened.
His golden eyes narrowed.
"No," he said flatly. "My mission is to get these people to the dock."
Wall Maria, the fate of human lands, the crumbling strategy of the military—none of it mattered.
His rebirth had given him only one mission: protect Carla, and stop Eren from becoming the monster he knew he would one day be.
If he left them, even for a heartbeat, who knew what the future would twist into?
Who knew what Eren—the future Eren—would seize upon to shape destiny?
He couldn't risk it.
He wouldn't risk it.
The rest of the world could burn.
But to Zeke's surprise, little Eren tore himself free from his grip. His eyes burned with a fire too bright for a child's face.
"Brother Zeke!" Eren screamed. "Go stop that giant! What kind of hero are you if you don't help him?!"
The word struck Zeke harder than any blade.
"Hero?" he repeated bitterly. His voice grew harsh, trembling with something more than anger.
He seized Eren by the shoulders, his grip firm, his words sharper than the Titan's armor.
"You call me a hero?" His voice cracked, rage and sorrow mixing. "You call a demon with blood on his hands a hero?! I've never been one! My hands are stained with the lives of countless innocents!Do you understand that? I don't care what happens to the world now! I crawled back from hell itself for one reason—to save your life! Only yours! So stop this nonsense and do as I say! Go to the docks, go inland, and live! Live a good life!"
The words hung heavy in the air. Carla's breath caught. Mikasa looked down, trembling.
Even Hannes could not meet Zeke's eyes.
But behind them—
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The ground shook as the Armored Titan began its charge. Each step was thunder, each movement a promise of destruction. Its eyes burned with grim determination, and every plate of armor shifted in deadly unison.
The monster was coming.
And the inner gate stood in its path.
...
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