Location: The Pocket Dimension (Villa Living Room)
The air in the villa was still crackling with static electricity. The floorboards were scorched where Ren had laid during his transformation.
Ren sat on the edge of the bed, buttoning a fresh shirt. His body felt dense, supercharged with the lingering energy of the Sovereign Titan.
Maggie stood by the wall, her chest heaving. She wasn't hugging him casually; she was staring at him with wide, dilated pupils.
"Ren," she whispered, her voice trembling. "That... that power? Of giant?"
Ren looked up, his eyes flashing with the new golden ring around the iris. "It is me, Maggie. It's the power I went to find."
Amy and Andrea were peeking out from the kitchen, terrified but curious. They had felt the dimension shake.
"Are you still... human?" Amy asked timidly.
Ren stood up and walked over to Maggie. He took her hand and placed it on his chest. His heart beat steadily—strong and slow.
"I'm more than human," Ren said softly. "But I'm still the man who protects you."
Maggie felt his warmth. The fear melted away, replaced by the rush of adrenaline and safety she always felt around him. She gripped his shirt. "You're a monster, Ren."
"Yes," Ren admitted. "But I'm your monster."
[System Notification]
[World Jump Complete.]
[Transition Successful: AOT (Paradis) -> TWD (Prison).]
[Time Elapsed in TWD: 1 Second.]
Ren turned to the door of the villa. His expression shifted from lover to warlord.
"We're back," Ren announced. "And just in time."
[System Alert]
[Proximity Warning: The Prison (Real World).]
[Hostile Force Detected: The Governor's Army.]
[Unit Count: 40 Infantry, 1 M60 Patton Tank.]
Ren's jaw tightened. "A tank? He brought a tank to my house?"
"Who?" Andrea asked, stepping forward.
"The Governor," Ren said. "Stay here. Stay inside the dimension. I just got a new toy, and I'm itching to test it out."
He walked to the dimension's exit portal.
"Ren!" Maggie called out.
He stopped.
"Give them hell," she said fiercely.
Ren smirked. "Hell is too good for them."
He stepped through the portal.
The Gates of the Prison
Ren stepped out of the portal into the Prison Armory. He walked out to the courtyard.
Rick, Daryl, Merle, and Michonne were already at the fence. The mood was apocalyptic.
Outside the gates, a convoy of trucks had formed a line. And in the center, a behemoth of steel—an M60 Patton Tank—aimed its main cannon directly at the cell block.
The Governor stood on top of the tank, looking like a conqueror.
"Rick Grimes!" The Governor's voice was amplified by a megaphone. "And... the 'Sovereign'! Come out! We need to talk about my property!"
Rick looked pale. "They have a tank, Ren. We can't fight a tank with AK-47s."
"We can flank them," Daryl suggested, though he sounded unsure.
"No," Ren said. He walked past them, heading straight for the gate.
"Ren, wait!" Michonne grabbed his arm. "You can't just walk out there."
Ren looked at her. "Michonne, you like swords. Watch closely."
Ren unlocked the gate and walked out into the field. He stopped fifty yards from the tank. He was one man against an army.
The Governor laughed, lowering the megaphone. "There he is. The magician. The lightning boy."
He looked down at his lieutenant, Martinez (who had fled back to him). "Is that him?"
"That's him," Martinez whispered, terrifyingly.
"He looks small," The Governor sneered. He raised the megaphone again. "Ren! I hear you have a god complex. I hear you like to steal things. You stole my brother Merle. You stole my prison."
"I liberated them," Ren called back. His voice wasn't amplified, but with a subtle application of Telekinesis to the airwaves, everyone heard him clearly.
"Surrender," The Governor commanded. "Kneel. Give me the women. Give me the supplies. And maybe... maybe I let you live as my court jester."
Ren chuckled. He looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful day.
"Governor," Ren said. "Do you know what the difference is between a King and a God?"
"What?" The Governor scowled.
"A King rules over people," Ren said, taking a step forward. "A God rules over nature."
Ren cracked his neck.
[Skill Activation: ODM Gear Proficiency (Acrobatics)]
[Skill Activation: Limit Breaker (Speed)]
Ren vanished.
To the soldiers, he simply disappeared. In reality, he had launched himself forward with explosive speed, using the ODM proficiency to keep his body low and aerodynamic, zigzagging faster than the human eye could track.
"Fire! Fire the cannon!" The Governor screamed.
The tank gunner panicked and fired. BOOM.
The shell exploded where Ren was, kicking up a cloud of dirt.
But Ren was already in the air. He had jumped twenty feet high, flipping gracefully over the blast radius.
He landed in the middle of the field, halfway between the prison and the army.
"System," Ren whispered. "Release restraints."
He brought his hand to his mouth.
In the Attack on Titan world, Shifters drew blood to transform. Ren bit his hand hard.
CRUNCH.
Blood sprayed.
[Transformation Initiated.]
Yellow lightning, thick and jagged, crashed down from the clear sky. It struck Ren with the force of a nuclear bomb.
KRA-KOOM!
The shockwave knocked the Governor off the tank. The soldiers were thrown to the ground. The windows of the prison shattered.
Steam billowed out, white and hot.
And from the steam, a nightmare rose.
It wasn't skinless like the Colossal. It wasn't purely bone like the Founder.
It was fifteen meters tall. Its skin was covered in sleek, white hardened armor plates that looked like knight's armor. Its eyes glowed electric blue. Muscles bulged between the armor plating. Long, black hair flowed down its back.
The Sovereign Titan.
Inside the prison, Rick dropped his binoculars. "What... the... fuck?"
Merle started laughing hysterically. "That's my boss! That's my boss!"
The Massacre
The Sovereign Titan roared. It wasn't a scream; it was a sound that vibrated in the chest of every living thing for five miles.
The Governor looked up from the dirt, his eye wide with incomprehensible terror. "Monster..."
The Titan looked down at the tank.
Ren, inside the nape, felt the power. It was intoxicating.
He took a step. The earth shook.
The soldiers opened fire. Bullets pinged harmlessly off the Titan's armored shins.
Ren ignored them. He walked to the tank. The tank commander tried to reverse, grinding gears.
Ren raised his massive, armored foot.
STOMP.
He didn't stomp the turret. He kicked the tank.
The 50-ton vehicle flew through the air like a toy. It tumbled end over end, crashing into the line of trucks behind it, exploding in a massive fireball.
"Retreat!" Martinez screamed. "Run!"
The Woodbury army broke. Men dropped their guns and ran into the woods.
The Governor tried to crawl away.
Ren reached down. His hand, covered in white crystalline hardening, scooped the Governor up along with a chunk of dirt.
Ren lifted the Governor to eye level.
The Titan's face was stoic, terrifyingly human yet alien. The blue eyes bore into the Governor's soul.
Inside the nape, Ren spoke. The Titan's mouth didn't move, but the voice projected via Telekinesis.
"You wanted my home," the voice boomed.
The Governor pissed himself. He pulled his pistol and fired wildly at the Titan's giant eye. The bullets bounced off the transparent hardening protecting the cornea.
Ren squeezed. Gently.
CRACK.
The Governor's legs shattered. He screamed.
Ren turned and threw the Governor toward the prison. The body soared through the air, clearing the fence, and landed with a wet thud in the courtyard, broken but alive.
Ren turned his attention to the fleeing soldiers.
He held out his right hand.
[Titan Skill: Warhammer Construction]
White steam hissed from his palm. Within seconds, a massive spear made of white, hardened Titan crystal formed in his hand. It was twenty meters long.
Ren took aim at the retreating trucks.
He threw it.
The spear broke the sound barrier. BOOM. It skewered the lead truck, pinning it to the ground and crushing the engine.
The remaining soldiers froze. They fell to their knees, hands up.
"Surrender," Ren's voice boomed. "Or disappear."
The Aftermath
Ren knelt down. Steam hissed as the Titan body began to dissolve.
Ren emerged from the nape, cutting himself free. He slid down the steaming carcass of his Titan form, landing on the grass.
He was naked (Titan shifting destroyed clothes), but the System instantly equipped a spare set of clothes from his inventory (Black tactical pants and a tight shirt) before he hit the ground. [Auto-Equip Feature].
He walked back to the prison gate.
Rick opened it. The group stood there, silent. Fearful.
Ren walked past them to where the Governor lay twisted on the ground.
The Governor was coughing blood. "What... are... you?"
Ren looked down. "I told you. I'm the evolution."
He looked at Michonne. "He's yours."
Michonne stepped forward, drawing her katana. Her eyes were filled with gratitude. The Governor had tortured her in the original timeline (or would have). Ren had given her justice early.
SHING.
Michonne took his head.
Ren turned to the group.
"The war is over," Ren announced. "We have their trucks. We have their ammo. And we have their fear."
Rick walked up to Ren. He looked at the dissolving Titan skeleton outside the gate.
"Ren," Rick said, his voice shaking. "We need to talk."
"Not now, Rick," Ren said, walking toward the cell block. "I'm hungry. Shifting burns calories."
He stopped and looked at Maggie, who was standing by the door, looking at him with a mix of shock and intense attraction. Power was an aphrodisiac, and Ren had just displayed the ultimate power.
"Maggie," Ren said. "Dinner?"
Maggie swallowed hard and nodded. "Yes. Dinner."
The Council
That night, the atmosphere in the prison was heavy.
They sat in the common room. Ren ate his third MRE.
"So," Glenn started, breaking the silence. "You can turn into a giant."
"Yes," Ren said.
"And you shoot lightning," Daryl added.
"Yes."
"And you can move things with your mind," Carol whispered.
"Yes."
Ren wiped his mouth. "Listen. I know this is a lot. But the world has changed. The rules of biology, of physics... they're suggestions now. I am the one who breaks them."
He looked at Rick. "You can lead the people, Rick. You can be the Sheriff. But I am the sword. And I am the shield. As long as you follow my lead on the big threats, you will be safe."
Rick looked at Judith, his baby daughter. He looked at Carl.
"Safe," Rick repeated. "That's all that matters."
"Good," Ren stood up. "Now, we need to deal with the survivors of Woodbury. We assimilate them. We take their resources. We build a city."
"And then?" Michonne asked.
"And then," Ren smiled, "I go shopping."
[System Notification]
[Quest Completed: The Governor's Fall.]
[Reward: 10,000 System Points.]
[Level Up! Level 5.] (skip the leveling during the hunting of titans)
[New Feature Unlocked: World Anchor.]
"World Anchor?" Ren queried mentally.
[World Anchor: You can now stabilize a portal between the Pocket Dimension and the current world. This allows your followers to travel freely without you opening the door manually.]
"Perfect," Ren thought. "Now I can build a real base inside the dimension."
The Next Move
A week passed. The prison absorbed the remnants of Woodbury. The population swelled to seventy.
Ren delegated. Rick ran the day-to-day. Daryl ran security. Maggie ran logistics (and Ren's bed).
Ren spent his time in the Dimension, training with the ODM Gear Proficiency. He built a training course with trees and towers. He didn't use the gear; he used Telekinesis to propel himself, mimicking the gas mechanism, and the Proficiency to handle the physics.
It was a deadly combination. He could fly without fuel.
[New World Jump Available.]
[Destination: High School of the Dead (HOTD).]
[Objective: Secure the 'Saya Takagi' genius intellect and the 'Saeko Busujima' sword style.] [Bonus Objective: Retrieve the EMP-shielded Humvee.]
Ren grinned. High School of the Dead. A world of fanservice, zombies, and high-tier waifus.
"Perfect," Ren said. "I need a swordswoman to teach the group. And Saeko is the best."
He turned to his harem. Maggie, Andrea, Amy.
"Ladies," Ren said. "Pack your summer clothes. We're going to Japan."
"Japan?" Andrea blinked. "How?"
"The same way we do everything," Ren said, opening the portal. "With style."