Armin sat on Eren's Titan's shoulder, gripping a lock of his hair to steady himself.
"Though I came up with this plan, whether it succeeds basically depends on whether I can hold out."
"Armin, you wouldn't..."
Eren seemed to have guessed what his childhood friend was thinking.
"Eren, I'm sorry. Before I see the sea, I can't die... so if I can't endure it anymore, I'll give up... I'll leave the rest to you."
Armin looked at Eren with a smile.
His gaze involuntarily drifted to the lower right, as if he were nervous, or perhaps lying.
"You see, I'm not that brave..."
Yet that disguise and lie were exposed before Eren in an instant. No, it wasn't that he lacked courage...
Armin had already made the decision to stake everything, and he intended to hide it from his comrades.
"Eren, you know, right? Didn't we promise to go see the sea together? Have I ever lied to you, Eren?"
A radiant gleam shone in Armin's eyes, as though they held the stars and sea of the entire universe.
The gloomy sky behind him and the oppressive atmosphere around them
made the young man seem to shine with endless light.
Armin rose to his feet and said,
"So no matter what... you have to follow my battle plan."
But things did not go smoothly. Eren suddenly fell heavily from the wall.
That made Bertholdt relax somewhat. With helplessness and mockery in his voice, he said,
"As expected, they're already finished... There's no way they can defeat me... It looks like Eren has suffered a severe concussion. He can't even stand now."
"End it."
Bertholdt shouted and swung the Colossal Titan's enormous arm toward Armin, who was still standing atop the wall.
An attack like that possessed devastating destructive power.
If