章 63: Advance
Akeno hadn't understood the fear of the Titans.
She heard about it and the reasons for it. Even understood it, on an intellectual level.
She saw the shadow of that fear in Mikasa Akerman's gaze when she talked about them, even decades later.
She had even seen the illusionary image of the Attack Titan, both in miniature and life-size.
But… she'd seen bigger.
It wasn't even a lewd joke.
Fifteen meters simply wasn't that large on a supernatural scale. Tannin was just as big, and he occasionally visited the Gremory estate.
And Titans lacked magic. The power that was the true measure of the strong in her world.
That invisible pressure which weighed down on body and soul when in the presence of Ultimate class devils. She'd known it in her father, in Sirzechs, in Grafiya, and in their Peerages.
Compared to the people she saw every day, something that was just a bigger human didn't seem scary.
Sairaorg was intimidating.
Loki had been terrifying.
But… Titans simply weren't. Not when Akeno had been able to fly before she could walk and could rain lightning down from the safety of the sky.
Oh, she was very aware of the power Eren held.
…He had killed Issei, after all. The strongest of the Gremory Peerage.
But that came from Senjutsu, Ophis' power, and Boosted Gear.
Sure, they enhanced his Shifter powers already present, but Akeno had simply not been afraid of 'Titans,' just 'Eren.'
The last few hours since Issei's death had given Akeno a taste of what living in Eren's world had been like.
Both inside the Walls and outside Paradis Island.
It was a choking thing, the fear.
To stare at the horizon and know that giant monsters could appear from beyond the mountains at any second to kill you and destroy everything you know…
Well, she could understand why living like that your entire life could drive some humans mad.
Still, it was a fear of the unknown, of a threat that might come for you, not of Titans themselves.
It was a vague fear, almost hazy and undefined. It simply blended into the confused mélange and surreality of the hours after finding Issei dead.
It all seemed like an ill-conceived nightmare.
As if any second, Akeno could wake up in Hyoudou Residence, get dressed for school, tease Issei and Asia about their no doubt wholesome sex, and then go to school. Maybe spend lunch with Eren on the bench.
Seeing Agreas appear from the mist in the distance was just a continuation of the unrealistic nightmare. Like her mind told her, 'This happened, and then this, and this too. Oh, why not have a city teleport itself while we're at it?'
Akeno Himejima had time to notice the confusion around her, and a small part of her mind noted Sona's pallor before she heard it.
The roar of a Titan.
The only Titan in this world.
Agreas, the massive floating city that housed tens of thousands of devils, exploded.
It was like a sun appeared.
High in the sky and tens of kilometres away, yet the shockwave still bowled everyone without cover.
The young, weak, and infirm were rendered unconscious as the equivalent of a nuclear weapon went off in the Underworld within sight of the capital.
Most of the heat from the explosion was dispersed long before it reached the refugees outside Lillith's walls, but the temperature rose noticeably.
Akeno couldn't hear anything. The explosion had deafened her.
Akeno couldn't see anything. The explosion had blinded her.
But Akeno could still feel.
Feel the ground shake.
Knocked on her back against the ground, Akeno felt a vibration in the earth.
Then another.
And another.
She scrambled to her feet, not hurt but disoriented, blinking and rubbing her eyes to regain her vision.
It came much quicker than for a human, but Akeno didn't believe her eyes at first.
It had to be leftover retina damage. An imprint on her eyes from the explosion.
There was no way THAT was real.
But it was.
Akeno Himejima got her first true look at a Titan.
Large.
Huge.
Massive.
Gargantuan.
Colossal.
Terrifying.
Hundreds of meters tall, it dominated the horizon like a red god.
A monstrous one with all its skin flayed, bony rips poking out from red muscle and a jaw more fitting for a Stray Devil than anything human.
Akeno finally understood the fear of Titans.
Compared to THAT, what were they?
Prey to be consumed.
Insects waiting to be squashed.
There was something inherently terrifying about being so small. The survival instinct of all living beings told you that just being near such a being was deadly.
A twitch of a muscle, a brush against an arm, a misstep, or a moment of carelessness from something so big was enough to kill you.
Even if something wasn't malicious, the size difference alone meant they were different categories of beings.
Did one notice all the ants in the grass or pavement they crushed every day? The errant fly that gets instinctually swatted?
No.
And this Titan wasn't just large. It was malicious. It wanted to destroy everything.
It was Eren.
Akeno knew it with the certainty of her own name.
The long dark hair. The cheekbones. The structure of that demented, jagged jaw.
It was definitely, unmistakably, Eren.
There was only one difference from the boy on the bench.
Those burning green eyes differed significantly from the empty grey ones Akeno knew.
Like a pyre of emeralds, they burned as they glared at the Underworld's capital.
In that malevolent green, Akeno saw all the rage, the pain, the vengeance that had driven a boy to stomp his world flat.
And those green eyes were trained directly on them.
Behind Eren, the last burning remnants of Agreas fell to the ground.
Eren advanced, stepping forward in a stride that covered a mountain.
The Underworld shook as his foot fell.
People were screaming. It was hard to hear over the ringing of her ears, but Akeno started to notice. Began to realize that the mass of devilkind was fleeing away from the advancing giant.
Then she noticed something else.
The crackle of lightning.
The familiar sound took on a horrific meaning when Akeno noticed it.
In front of the refugee camp, barely ten meters from the fleeing, screaming civilians, more minor explosions went off.
As the lightning faded, a tide of smaller white Titans attacked.
********
The Underworld shook with a mighty rumbling BOOM as Eren stepped closer to the capital.
Very few had the luxury of paying him attention.
Rias Gremory was the first to kill one of the Titans.
It wasn't that she was more prepared for the appearance of the giants, ranging from five to twenty meters tall. She just happened to be in the right place, the outside of the crowd of people facing where Agreas had appeared, at the right time.
She, like many, had been knocked from her feet by the initial explosion but had regained her position as Eren took his first steps toward them. She had watched the Titans form and, without even thinking about it, destroyed five with concentrated beams of her Power of Destruction.
BOOM.
The screaming started right as hundreds of Titans launched themselves forward, half seeming to veer toward her direction.
Seeing so many giant monsters bearing down on her, the smallest of which was three times her size and the largest over ten times, Rias immediately took to the air on her wings, launching high enough not to be within reach.
It didn't stop the Titans from launching themselves at her former position, arms grasping, teeth chomping, bulbous eyes searching for her.
A large ball of Destruction tore through them all, killing a handful and tearing great gouges in others.
BOOM.
A large one, fifteen meters at least, zeroed its attention on the source of the attack. It jumped, launching itself into the air with mouth agape to try and swallow Rias whole.
It would have missed by a good ten meters, as Rias had already repositioned for another attack, but it never made it back down to the ground as a gold gauntlet-clad fist smashed into its skull at its apex.
There was enough force in the blow to completely pulp the top half of the Titan, sending a rain of blood and flesh to the ground below.
BOOM.
"What are these things?" Sairaorg Bael asked grimly.
Clad in the golden armour of Regulus Nemea, he flew closer to the ground and unleashed a barrage of punches on a rotund Titan that severed its torso from its legs.
"TITANS!" Rias yelled as loudly as she could, seeing other defenders separate themselves from the fleeing, screaming civilians. "TO KILL THEM YOU NEED TO DESTROY THE BASE OF THE SKULL! OR THEY'LL REGENERATE!"
BOOM.
Her words were heard, thankfully, as she saw both Sairaorg and Seekavira's Peerages start to coordinate better, aiming for the weak spot.
Rias needed to heed her own advice, as those she injured with her first blast were already regrowing their limbs and launching themselves at anybody they could see.
People were running, flying, and screaming as they desperately tried to reach the safety of Lillith's walls.
BOOM.
Rias tried to form her Rain of Destruction, but the individual droplets of power were too weak to pierce deeply into the thick skin of the monsters. It wasn't without an effect, as it injured many, but not enough to actually kill them.
"They have Touki," Sairaorg said as he flew toward another group. "Not a lot, but it's there."
"Just enough to be annoying," Rias snorted as she sent a few lances of Destruction toward a Titan that had bypassed Sairaorg's Queen to reach a fallen civilian.
BOOM.
It held the woman in its grasp, bringing her to its gaping maw. The first separated its arm from its body, freeing the woman, and the second cut off its head.
"We need to get everyone into the sky," Sairaorg said, pausing in the battle for a second. "My Peerage can hold these here. Go to the organization center and have them broadcast that the city is to lower its flight wards. I want everyone flying over the city in a minute. Everybody is to get to the other side. Then join your Peerage. I want you to take the northwestern section. If you see Sona, tell her she's in charge of the southwestern part."
Rias blinked, surprised at the sudden orders that paused her momentarily. Then she moved past it.
BOOM.
"We need to stop him," Rias disagreed, pointing toward Eren. He was getting closer with every cacophonous footstep. "If we can, this all ends."
Her heart clenched at the words, but they needed to be said.
Rias had no idea what the status of her brother, the other Satans, their Peerages, Grayfia, Mikasa, and everyone else who had gone out to fight Eren was.
But he was here, and they weren't...
BOOM.
"We can't do that with so many people underfoot," Sairaorg argued back. "These Titans are just distractions. They're spreading chaos and confusion, but they focus on those who attack them. It's meant to buy time for the big guy to get here. This is not optional, Rias. This is an order from the Great King. Go."
He had a point.
If they had any chance of fighting Eren, they needed to be able to unleash large attacks without fear of collateral, which meant fighting him as far from the city as possible.
Still...
BOOM.
"Great King?" Rias asked, sending another explosion of Destruction raining down on a pack of Titans that had surrounded Seekavira's Pawn.
"...Father and Ancestor were on Agreas," Sairaorg said sadly, and Rias' heart clenched. "Until such time as we can verify their survival, I am now Lord Bael. As the highest-ranking devil after the Satans, I am taking command of this battlefield."
Rias wanted to fight, to argue, to fly out and rain Destruction on Eren for the death of Issei, her Uncle, who knew how many others.
Just because she hadn't been as close to him as she had Aunt Misla didn't mean she had wished her Uncle dead.
Her mother would be devastated.
BOOM.
And Rias... Rias knew her feelings were less important than making sure people survived.
They didn't have time to argue.
"As you command."
BOOM.
Rias nodded and flew away.
She wasn't passive as she left, destroying what Titans she passed, pulling fallen devils to their feet and generally telling people to get into the air.
They wouldn't be safe, but they'd be safer.
BOOM.
Rias found a gathering of Sona's Peerage, directing Tsubaki to lead them toward the south end and directing the Ministry staff to spread out and get the civilians into the air.
It was one of the few times she was grateful for her brother's sis-con ways, as they all recognized her instantly and did as told.
BOOM.
Yuuto was the first she found from her own Peerage, Purgatorio whizzing around him as he led a column of survivors away from the oncoming tide of giants.
Three Titans of varying sizes tried to pick off a few of the stragglers, but Yuuto was there, blades slicing through flesh like a hot knife through butter. None of the Titans had time to so much as flinch before they were dissolving on the ground.
Like Tsubaki, Rias didn't stay around long enough to talk except to direct him toward the northern side when he was done with this group.
BOOM.
He did manage to get off a warning before she was back in the air.
"They don't react to me until I hurt them," the Knight called after his King. "I tried to act as bait, but they'll run right by me to get to others. Then they'll attack wherever I was. It's like they can't see me."
Rias didn't have time to answer and didn't even think to as Eren let out a deafening roar of rage, and all eyes turned toward the attacking Titan.
He was closer.
So much closer.
At least half the distance had been swallowed by now, but thankfully, he seemed to have stopped for the moment.
As they watched, Eren swung an enormous arm, swatting at a white figure flying around his head on blue wings.
Though his fists weren't close to the agile flyer, Vali still staggered in the air as if hit.
Before a second blow could target the destabilized devil, an enormous staff struck Eren's jaw as Bikou flew by on his golden cloud, spikes of white material jettisoning from Eren's shoulders to try and lance the monkey Yokai.
Bikou dove, the golden trail of his cloud winding through Eren's legs. More white spears erupted from Eren's legs in front of him, creating a trap Bikou couldn't escape.
He didn't try. He kept flying forward, and right before he crashed into the wall of thorns, a blade cut through space in front of him.
In a move they had practiced a thousand times, in countless spars against this very Titan, Bikou flew through the void carved by Caliburn to emerge right behind Eren's head.
As the copy of Ruyi Jingu Bang smashed into Eren's skull, two giants emerged from the rift Bikou had just entered at Eren's feet.
Despite being tens of meters tall, Fenrir and Gogmagog looked positively minuscule compared to Eren's massive form.
Thankfully, they were accompanied by one of the greatest magical prodigies of the generation.
One who had been practicing a specific spell for years to try and help her brother finally defeat his sparing partner.
As soon as they were free of Caliburn's portal, Le Fay's magic engulfed the pair, and they began to grow, and grow, and grow.
Within an eyeblink, both Fenrir and the golem were sixty meters tall. Still smaller than Eren by a considerable margin, they at least reached his knees now, and they used their new massive size to attack the Titan's limbs.
Fenrir's God Slaying fangs bit deep into Titan's flesh, bypassing Touki and Senjutsu to tear an enormous chunk of flesh and bone from the leg.
Eren staggered from the loss of balance and was finally pushed over when Gogmagog wrapped its body around Eren's other leg and unleashed its entire arsenal. Lasers, bombs, magical bullets. The enormous golem did everything it could to destabilize the second leg, even going so far as to engage its jetpack to try and lift the Titan's foot by the barest amount.
It almost wasn't enough.
I shall become a pure Emperor of White Dragon,
Then Vali was there again, armour a bit battered but whole as he unleashed his own surprise on Eren as he finished his chant.
And I shall tear down all walls that defy my dark radiance!
A twist inspired by a rival he never got to defeat.
[TITANICO JUGGERNAUT OVERDRIVE!]
Vali couldn't absorb a fraction of a fraction of the Infinite's power, even if he engaged Juggernaut Drive.
But Divine Dividing didn't just divide power.
[DIVIDE DIMENSION]
Eren shrunk.
In a moment, the gargantuan Titan that dominated the horizon was halved in size.
As the power of one of the Dragon Emperors was taken to its logical extreme, Eren went from close to five hundred meters tall to only two fifty.
The shift in size was enough for Fenrir and Gogmagog's efforts to take effect, and Eren toppled backward, crashing into the ground with a cataclysmic, Underworld-shaking collapse.
As Eren fell, Vali grew.
The blue wings on Vali's back exploded in blue light as they vented the excess he couldn't handle, but he was still a genius the world hadn't seen before in nearly all fields.
Combat. Magic. His Sacred Gear.
Vali Lucifer had it all, trained it all, and he had used it to create a technique specifically designed to defeat a man who had become his true rival after all these years.
The enormous white armoured figure grew and grew and grew until even he couldn't get any larger.
Though he towered over Gogmagog and Fenrir, he was still smaller than Eren.
But he wasn't done yet.
[DIVIDE DIMENSION]
Eren shrunk again, now only tens of meters taller than Vali's hundred-meter form.
[DIVIDE DIME-]
Eren's foot slammed into Vali's knee, interrupting him as the White Dragon Emperor buckled.
Using conjured pillars as a platform, each meters thick, Eren launched himself from his prone form on the ground and tackled Vali around the waist, bringing the pair into a grapple that destroyed mountains.
As the giants fought, the insects at their feet tried to flee the battle.
Rias had only paused long enough to realize Team Vali had arrived to delay Eren before she returned to her mission.
Once they had the civilians safe, she could... she could... she could...
Rias didn't know what she'd do; she just needed to do something. Anything.
Eren had stolen Issei's life, her freedom, her Uncle, and who knew how many other lives today.
Rias... She couldn't let it continue.
Even if...
Before she could finish the thought, Rias was at the organization tent.
At this point, it was little more than a raised platform with a roof, its walls destroyed so its two occupants could have a view over the refugee camp turned battlefield.
Still, it was almost entirely empty, except for two occupants.
"Rias," Sona said as soon as she caught sight of her rival. "I directed Akeno to the front line with all the other fighters. I need you to go reinforce her. We are buying time till Aunty arrives with the army. The Ministry staff is trying to open the barriers for flight over the city."
While it was relieving to know that action was already being taken, Rias' hope rose at the other piece of news.
"They're on their way?" Rias asked eagerly. She had feared the worst with Eren here and the army nowhere in sight.
"They were caught by Georg," Kuroka, the only other person with Sona, said. "He can't kill them all if he drops them somewhere dangerous. His best bet is to hold onto them as long as possible, but he'll tire eventually."
"One of Kuroka's clones is with them," Sona explained. "They know the situation here. As soon as they get free, they'll be here to help."
Rias felt a profound relief but still wanted to finish here and help her friends.
"Sairaorg gave the order. Broadcast that the barriers are to be lowered, and everyone that isn't fighting is to fly to the other side of the city."
Sona blinked at her friend for a second, then she nodded.
"Having the Great King's orders will force them to lower the barriers."
Rias nodded, ready to take off to help her friends.
And froze.
"... How'd you know Sairaorg is Lord Bael?"
"Not now," Sona said, returning her attention to the battlefield. "You should go help your Peerage. Rossweiss brought Gasper, Koneko, Ravel, and Irina before Eren arrived. You'll want to lead them."
Once again, Rias almost instinctively flew out to protect her family, but the political awareness nurtured over the last year and a half told her something was off.
Sona was just trying to get rid of her.
"Sona," Rias asked. "How did you know my Uncle was on Agreas?"
"We do not have time for this," Sona snapped, the first time Rias had ever seen her do so. She looked... stressed. Drawn. Her face was pale, and the eyes behind her glasses were furrowed in consternation. "If you hadn't noticed, we're in a crisis."
The Rias of two years ago would have agreed. She would have flown away, desperate to protect those she cared about.
This Rias had paid a price for both her kindness and her ignorance.
"Sona... Did you know this was going to happen?"
Sona laughed.
It was high. It was loud.
It was the laughter of a woman on her last line of sanity.
Then she stopped.
All emotion fled from Sona Sitri's voice like a switch had been flipped.
"I didn't know this was going to happen," Sona said, her voice empty. "I made sure it happened. I made sure every figure of note and importance that I could get in contact with was on Agreas.
"Son-
"And now they're dead." Sona interrupted. "All of them. I practically held them in place for Eren to kill them."
"Why?" Rias asked, voice cracking in horror.
"Because we can't win," Sona said. "Look at that!"
Sona gestured toward the battle of giants in the distance, their every move sending the Underworld trembling.
Closer at hand, tens of thousands of devils fled the white jaws of slavering Titans. What defenders remained were trying to hold them in place and kill them, buying time with life and limb.
"Eren has Ophis' power," Sona said simply. "Whether he got the Malabranche or not, it doesn't matter. We can't beat that. We can't beat Eren. So, I set up a situation where he'd let himself loose. I gave him everything he wanted."
"You gave him lives!" Rias exclaimed, stepping closer to her rival.
Even if she hadn't been the closest to her Uncle, what about Sairaorg? Despite everything, he still loved his father. And who else was on Agreas?
How many orphans had Sona just made?
"I gave him the Underworld!" Sona snapped again. "You don't get it, do you? I didn't just put most of our ruling class on that island! I gave him the island itself! There will be no more Evil Pieces. Our peace treaty might fail because we can't produce Brave Saint cards anymore. I have single-handedly ensured that our way of life has come to an end! No more Rating Games! No more reincarnated devils!"
Rias... hadn't even thought of that.
"And it worked," Sona said simply, gesturing out toward the field of chaos. "This? This is nothing. The army faced thousands of Colossal Titans. Eren could conjure more, but he's sticking with smaller ones. He could kill Vali and his team instantly, but he doesn't."
"If he wanted to, Eren could emerge from his titan and transform as many times as he likes," Kuroka said grimly. "He's not bound by the limits of his world. He could destroy everything with a few transformations."
"Because he wants to lose," Sona nodded. "Because he's already accomplished everything. Now, he's just waiting for the right person to finish it. I destroyed half of all pureblood devil bloodlines to get my Aunt this chance. Now, we just need to hold on until she comes back."
"What if she doesn't?" Rias asked incredulously. "What if you are wrong, and Eren doesn't let himself lose? What if he's not satisfied with what he's already done? Eren won't stop just because you want him to!"
"If I am wrong, it won't matter," Sona said grimly. "Because we'll all be dead. Now, if you excuse me, I will try to save what is left of the Underworld."
As Sona engaged the magical speakers, Rias was left to throw herself back into the chaos.
As she did, she couldn't help but look over toward the clash of giants, to the enormous red humanoid that seemed hell-bent on tearing down everything she had ever known.
Was Eren fighting to win?
Or was Eren just fighting because that was all he knew how to do?
クリエイターの想い 
ReadingDangerously
ReadingDangerously Apologies for both the late posting and the lesser quality of the edits. Been feeling sick for the last few days.
I think only a few people got the implications of Sona's plan when I first posted her chapter. Eren didn't just kill a bunch of devils that led their society. He destroyed the material needed to reincarnate people. Devil society has been built on Rating Games for centuries, and he put an end to it. Even if everyone survived, the chaos would be insane as Devils would need to reconfigure their whole society.
I will admit that this idea isn't original to this fic. I thought this was what would happen in canon when Rizevim stole Agreas. I was like, 'Wow. The complete destruction of the Rating Game system. How interesting.' But then Ishibumi just returned to the island with barely any consequences, and I was sorely disappointed.
The only other thing I'll touch on in this chapter is Vali's team. They'd been fighting against Eren for years, then he disappeared. Of course, they'd have new strategies. Vali had, canonically, already mastered Juggernaut Drive when he beat the predecessors in Divine Dividing. Then he watches Issei pull out Crimson World Wall and goes, 'Hold my beer.'
I didn't want to simply redo Empireo Juggernaut Overdrive, and I always like it when characters in fanfiction react to changes that are different from canon. After seeing Issei do so, Vali would always find a way to alter Juggernaut Drive, so I thought, 'What form would this Vali take it?'
Man, have I had fun with this fic.
So close to the end, only a few more meetings on the bench.
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