Fate Titan

The closer Yago got to the front lines, the more alarmed he became. The smell of blood was everywhere, and wherever he looked, he seemed to find the corpses of uniformed soldiers, most of them horribly mangled.

From the insignia on their uniforms, some were trainees bearing crossed swords, while others were Garrison soldiers stationed in Rose. The sight weighed heavily on Yago, making him even more worried about Eren, Annie, and the others.

Leaping onto the top of a tower, Yago surveyed the battlefield. Things looked grim. Titans roamed almost everywhere in the area assigned to the vanguard, and some had even approached the supply depot serving as the command center.

Yago frowned. For the moment, he had no idea where to look for Eren and the others. Without dwelling on it, he jumped off the tower and decided to head toward the supply depot first. His gas and blades were nearly depleted, so he needed to find the supply unit and replenish them anyway.

Slash! Yago sliced open a Titan's nape, panting slightly, but he was also deeply puzzled. This was already the fifth Titan he had killed, yet he had not seen so much as a glimpse of the supply unit. By all rights, he had already entered their defensive area, but the supply soldiers who should have been rushing about were nowhere to be found.

Yago looked at the hopelessly dull blades in his hands and snapped them off. There were no spare blades left in his sheaths, so he could only take the blades strapped to his calves. Those were badly worn too, though a little better than the ones he had just discarded.

What? Why didn't he loot the bodies? It wasn't that Yago didn't want to, but most Titans swallowed people whole. Even when they didn't, the remains were horribly mangled, never mind their Omni-Directional Mobility Gear. Most of it had been completely destroyed. At least, Yago had yet to find an intact set.

Blades in hand, Yago ran down the street. Don't ask. The answer was that he barely had any gas left, so he had to get around on foot. Once he found those supply soldiers, Yago swore he would teach them a lesson!

Yago avoided Titans as much as possible along the way. As he passed a street corner, the sight before him made his pupils constrict. A mangled body lay on the ground, its remaining half-face frozen in utter terror. Yago recognized him at once: squad leader Yuwen, the man who had declared their mission a failure. It seemed he hadn't escaped after all.

That thought jolted Yago to attention. Wait, if Yuwen's body is here, then that... that Abnormal Titan?

The next instant, Yago rolled almost on instinct, dodging an enormous hand. He raised his head awkwardly and met the gaze of the Titan with the wide, gaping grin.

This was the Abnormal Titan that had attacked them.

Whoosh! This was no time to conserve gas. Blades in hand, Yago swiftly circled behind the Abnormal Titan and surged forward, bringing both blades down cleanly toward its nape. But his expression froze in an instant. The blades were too dull. They hadn't even pierced the Titan's skin.

With a rush of air, the Abnormal Titan's enormous hand swept toward Yago. He leaped, trying to reach another rooftop, but halfway through the flight, he suddenly dropped out of control like a drunk.

"Shit! I'm out of gas too!" Yago cursed. Just before hitting the ground, he adjusted his posture and landed on his feet.

Facing the approaching Abnormal Titan, Yago sighed. For an ordinary person, this would have been almost certain death. No one facing such a desperate situation could have remained as calm as Yago. Unfortunately for the Titan, he was no ordinary person.

Yago looked around and saw no humans nearby.

Yago snapped off his last blades and slowly raised his right hand. Staring coldly at the Abnormal Titan, he said, "Bad luck for you. You'll be the first Titan to experience this power."

The nails on Yago's right hand suddenly lengthened. The Abnormal Titan seemed to sense something too, and it opened its huge mouth and lunged at him with astonishing speed.

Pierce! His nails stabbed into his palm, drawing blood. Yellow lightning sprang up around Yago, enveloping him as bones, muscles, and blood vessels emerged from within it. "Roar!!!" A terrifying bellow echoed through the street.

In another district, Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt of Mark's Class all seemed to sense something at the same instant. The three looked in almost exactly the same direction.

Mark found that rather strange. "What's wrong with you three?"

Reiner shook his head. "Nothing. Let's hurry to the supply depot. We're running low on gas."

Annie's expression remained cold, but a faint worry showed in her eyes. She wondered how Yago was doing.

Smack! A strong, solid hand clamped down on the Abnormal Titan's disgusting head. As the steam gradually cleared, a pair of scarlet eyes emerged. Seventeen meters tall, with disheveled black hair, a mouthful of sharp teeth, and terrifying muscles covering his body, this Titan clearly possessed overwhelming strength. The Yago Titan-or rather, the Fate Titan from his memories-had arrived!

"Roar!" Yago made his Titan hand squeeze hard, and the disgusting Titan's head burst like a watermelon. Its body collapsed, twitching. Yago aimed at its nape and stomped down hard, finishing off the Abnormal Titan for good.

Yago raised his head, his scarlet gaze turning toward the supply depot. Then his enormous body began moving in that direction.

Reaching out to seize two fifteen-meter-class Titans, Yago opened his sharp-toothed mouth and savagely bit out the flesh of their napes, one bite for each.

After transforming into a Titan, Yago possessed overwhelming strength. Ordinary Titans were nothing more than easy prey, and even Abnormal Titans could only last a few more exchanges against him.

Along the way, Yago had already taken down nearly forty Titans, including seven or eight Abnormal Titans. Even he was beginning to struggle with such intense fighting. By now, he could occasionally spot Garrison soldiers and trainees wearing Omni-Directional Mobility Gear in the area.

Yago no longer dared approach the supply depot like this. It would be a bad joke if, instead of being killed by Titans, he had his nape sliced open by his own soldiers. After all, he still looked like a terrifying Titan, and a very powerful one at that. If he appeared before the trainees like this, they would almost certainly attack him en masse.

Fortunately, Yago already had a solution. He ran straight toward a particular spot, arriving in front of an ordinary wooden house, and stomped apart the few small, several-meter-tall Titans milling around it.

The Yago Titan crashed to the ground, and a bulge rose from his nape. Pop! Yago broke free of the flesh binding him, pushed open the Titan body's nape, and tore away several strands of flesh attached to his face.

He jumped down from the Titan's body and ran straight toward the house. Kicking open the somewhat rotten door, Yago went to the farthest corner and dragged out a box. He opened it, revealing a brand-new set of Omni-Directional Mobility Gear-the very set he had obtained from the thieves three years ago.

After Yago's repairs, this Omni-Directional Mobility Gear was fully fit for combat, and its gas reserves were completely full. He removed the gear he was wearing, now empty of both gas and blades, and quickly began putting on the new set.

Once he had finished, Yago went over to a small mirror in the room. In its reflection, three stubborn marks lay beneath the corners of the boy's eyes. These were aftereffects of transforming into a Titan and would take at least a few hours to fade.

But Yago had a solution. He covered his eyes with his hand and exerted a little force. A warm sensation rose around his eyes, and when he opened them again, the three marks were already gone. The Titan blood and slime on his body had also evaporated completely.

When he stepped out of the house, the Titan's body had almost entirely evaporated. Without hesitation, Yago activated his Omni-Directional Mobility Gear and headed toward the supply depot.