A sharp, icy wind swept through the street.
After hearing Lillian's words, both sides fell into a brief, stunned silence.
…Has he gone mad?
That was what everyone thought.
Anyone could see how the situation stood. For Lillian, the best possible choice at this moment would have been to order his men to lay down their weapons and surrender—that would have minimized casualties as much as possible.
Instead, he slowly swept his gaze across the enemy ranks and took a deep breath.
"Fire."
Sensing the killing intent gathering in him, Pixis gave the order despite not believing Lillian could truly do anything while facing hundreds of guns. Still, the unease in his heart pushed him to act.
The moment the command was given, gunfire erupted in a chaotic storm.
Clang! Clang!
Bullets struck the ground in rapid succession—because the spot where Lillian had been standing was now empty.
Slash—!
The soldiers in the front row felt their vision blur. Before they could even process what had happened, consciousness left them. The final image burned into their minds was their own headless bodies still standing upright—before collapsing to the ground.
In a single exchange, seven or eight soldiers were beheaded outright.
The rest were terrified out of their minds. In their panic, they raised their guns and fired wildly. Lillian was already deep within their formation, and while the chaotic shots failed to hit him, they struck many of their own comrades instead. Shouts and curses erupted everywhere as confusion spread.
Lillian's expression was utterly cold.
He leapt forward, charging straight toward Pixis and Nile in the rear.
Kill the leader first.
Unless the enemy was a machine army, this principle never changed. Once the commanders were dead, even thousands of soldiers would become a mindless rabble without direction.
"Protect the commander!!"
Ordinary soldiers couldn't stop Lillian. At best, they could trade their lives for one or two seconds of delay. Pixis's and Nile's personal guards threw themselves in front of their superiors, glaring at Lillian with hatred.
"Good."
Lillian's objective was the complete eradication of his enemies and their factions. More than that—this battle was meant to terrify the entire world within the Walls, to make anyone who even considered opposing him abandon the thought entirely.
For that…
Blood had to be spilled.
"Die."
The war scythe swept horizontally.
Five or six soldiers were instantly cut in half.
With Lillian's current strength, wielding this weapon was effortless. Compared to Titans, the human body was laughably fragile—so much so that he didn't even need to exert force. As long as the blade brushed against flesh, chunks of meat were guaranteed to fly.
"Deputy Commander…"
Behind the sandbags, Lillian's soldiers stared in horror and awe, mouths hanging open.
They knew their commander was powerful—but that kind of power should've meant one man fighting off a dozen, maybe a few dozen enemies.
What they were witnessing now went far beyond "powerful."
This was invincible.
They had seen bullets strike Lillian's body with their own eyes—yet only holes appeared in his clothes. The next moment, as he moved, the bullets simply fell out, clinking against the ground with crisp metallic sounds.
If bullets couldn't pierce his body…
Then what possibly could?
"A monster…! He's a devil!!"
Finally, a soldier broke under the pressure and screamed.
In less than three minutes, over a hundred soldiers had fallen beneath that terrifying black scythe. No one could kill him. No one could even slow him down.
"Run!!"
"He can't be killed!!"
"AAAAAAAH—!"
Morale collapsed instantly.
Pixis and Nile, retreating nonstop, were drenched in sweat. They could see it clearly now—Lillian's sole target was them. Already, more than thirty soldiers had sacrificed their lives just to buy them a few extra seconds.
Looking at the corpses on the ground, even they were terrified now. Their minds were filled with panic and the desperate urge to escape.
But it was too late.
Lillian had already reached them.
He kicked away a soldier who lunged at him and raised the scythe toward the two commanders—
Then—
"LILLIAN!!"
CLANG!
Lillian twisted the scythe sideways, blocking the strike with its shaft, and stepped back half a pace.
Levi stood before him, blades drawn.
"Levi," Lillian asked calmly, "what are you doing?"
"Lillian… this is enough."
Levi glanced at the corpses littering the ground, his heart pounding. He was certain now—Lillian had completely lost control.
"You've killed enough people," Levi said.
"Stop now, and you'll still have a place in the world inside the Walls."
"Levi, you really don't understand the situation."
Lillian stared at him indifferently. "If you were so kind-hearted, why didn't you come out earlier—when both sides were shooting each other?"
"…Wasn't it Erwin who told you not to interfere?"
"…"
"He's a smart man. You should listen to him. This has nothing to do with the Scout Regiment. And besides—"
Mid-sentence, Lillian's eyes flicked sideways.
Suddenly, he hurled the war scythe with all his strength.
"What—?!"
Levi reacted too late.
The next instant, he saw Pixis—the scythe's blade had pierced straight through his chest.
The southern commander died on the spot.
"LILLIAN!!"
"Commander!!"
The highest-ranking officer on the battlefield was dead.
What little morale remained shattered completely. Soldiers turned and fled in all directions.
At that moment, Lillian gestured to his own men.
Marlo was the first to respond. He rose from behind the sandbags and roared:
"Pursue them!!"
Bang! Bang! Bang bang bang!
Gunfire exploded once more as the battlefield descended into chaos.
Levi tightened his grip on his blades.
"Do you even realize… what you've done?"
"Do you know why Erwin didn't want the Scouts involved?"
Lillian asked calmly. He was unarmed now, yet showed no fear at all.
"Because if you had forced your way in—
you would have died."
"…"
Click—click—click—click.
Several guns were raised at once, all aimed at Levi.
"Put down the blade in your hand!" Robert shouted. "Even if you're a captain, you won't survive a gunshot!"
"What are you trying to do?!"
At that moment, several figures dropped down from above—it was the elite squad, along with Eren and the others. They landed beside Levi, clearly choosing to stand with him.
"Didn't I tell you not to come out?!" Levi snapped.
"Captain, this isn't the time for that!" one of the elite squad members said nervously, staring at Lillian. "You can't handle him alone!"
"…"
"You should all go back. I don't have the patience to waste time with you," Lillian said calmly. "Levi, if you insist on making a move, then I can only kill all of you. You're welcome to test whether I can actually do it."
Lillian wasn't joking.
If Levi truly chose to act, there was no way Lillian would back down here. Anyone who tried to obstruct him—even the Survey Corps—would not be spared. After all… what would it matter if everyone except Eren died?
Or to put it another way—if Eren also insisted on becoming his enemy… couldn't someone else be made to eat him instead?
Lillian had already considered every possible retreat. He had even prepared himself for the possibility that, if the world inside the Walls truly became beyond saving, he would leave before its collapse—taking the few people he truly cared about with him, disappearing into another country beyond Marley to live under assumed names.
With his abilities, that wouldn't be difficult.
But unless he was truly cornered, he would never choose that path.
"…"
"You—"
"Stop," Levi said suddenly, raising a hand to block the elite squad. He looked deeply at Lillian, then chose to retreat. "We're going back."
"Captain?!"
"Follow orders!"
"…Yes!"
The group left unwillingly. Eren and the others had wanted to say something to Lillian, but he had no intention of responding, so there was no exchange at all. In Lillian's eyes, there was no need for one.
"Lillian…"
At that moment, Historia, Ymir, and Annie walked over. They looked at him with complicated expressions, unsure of what to say.
In the end, saying nothing was probably for the best.
Lillian turned and headed in the direction the enemy had fled. The night was far from over. His objective wasn't just Pixis alone—it was every enemy officer.
If he was going to act, he would see it through completely. Fail to uproot the weeds, and they'll grow back with the spring, Lillian thought. It was amusing that such a stereotypical villain's line had ended up applying to him.
Just a little more—
Buzz… buzz…
The surrounding environment suddenly twisted.
Lillian's expression changed. The streets and buildings warped into spinning colors and distorted lines. The moon overhead transformed into a blood-red orb, like a strange, bewitching eye staring directly at him.
It's happening again.
A powerful wave of dizziness hit him. He pressed a hand to his forehead and clenched his teeth.
"Just give me a little more time!!"
A few seconds later, the crimson hue faded from the moon. The colors and lines snapped back into place, and the surroundings gradually returned to normal—as if everything that had just happened was nothing more than an illusion.
Lillian took several deep breaths, then murmured softly, "Thank you."
He wasn't sure who he was thanking.