Chương 73: The Boy On The Bench

Gasper dove for the fallen Grail as it fell to the ground, no longer supported by Rizevim's spell.

"Got it!" The cross-dressing dhampir cheered as he held onto one of the missing pieces of Valerie's Gear.

He was holding the holy relic with a toy grippy claw he'd brought, knowing he'd be unable to touch the thing without burning his flesh.

Unfortunately, nobody paid attention to the funny vamp's cute cheer.

Their entire focus was on Rizevim's body, suspended in the air, even though Vali had removed his bloody arm from his grandfather's chest.

The headless body floated there for a beat.

CRACK!

A sound, like broken glass, resounded through the pocket dimension.

A black crack, jagged and fractured, formed through the floating corpse.

Suddenly appearing in the pocket dimension, Georg yelled as he stood beside Issei.

"Everyone behind the wall!"

The Red Dragon Emperor, Boosted Gear already healed by Asia, started chanting.

Team Vali, well used to working with the holder of Dimension Lost, complied without even a moment's delay.

CRACK!

The Gremory Group took a moment longer, but they, too, moved behind Issei when the black crack extended from Rizevim's body and started to spread through the air.

CRACK!

Like reality was nothing but a piece of porcelain, the black crack spread further and wider, snaking through the air.

Above. Behind. Through itself. To the left and right. In directions that didn't make sense and the mortal mind couldn't comprehend, the cracking spread.

CRACK!

"What is that?" Mikasa demanded.

Issei continued to chant.

CRACK!

"A seal broke with Rizevim's death," Georg answered, staring intensely at the shattering space around them. "The last one needed to weaken for the Beast to start breaking free."

"Beast?" Kuroka asked. "What Beast? Where's Eren?"

The Crimson World Wall rose, separating the group from the shattering sky.

CRACK!

"The Beast of the Apocalypse," Georg answered, not taking his eyes off the cracks. "The one that invaded this world centuries and the God of the Bible fought and sealed. Rizevim's been destroying seal for months."

"Why?" Vali asked, readying himself for another fight. "What can it do? Could he control it? Can we?"

CRACK!

"It's as strong as, or stronger than, Great Red," Georg deadpanned without looking at the White Dragon Emperor. "The only reason it could be sealed is because it is a creature focused on pure annihilation. No higher thoughts, just an instinct to destroy. And it still led to His death."

"...And Eren let Rizevim unseal it?" Rias asked, horrified. "What is he planning?"

CRACK!

"More importantly, what can we do to stop it?" Arthur asked, glad Le Fay was still with Elane. Getting her to remain behind had been a chore, but at least she was safe from... whatever was happening.

CRACK!

... Tink.

A chip of darkness fell from the cracked sky.

"You don't stop it," Georg answered as the cracking stopped resounding. "You've done your part. I'll do mine. The rest will be left to Eren."

All at once, the cracks in the pocket dimension at the end of the world all shattered, a void tearing through reality and leaving an endless hole without depth.

And in that void, that was not darkness but the absence of everything that could be considered 'existence,' was a small light.

From the inside of the Crimson World Wall, they could look through and see that small light.

It was vaguely humanoid, in the shape of a small boy of indistinct form and size.

The only distinguishing feature of the being was the ten horns that adorned its head like a crown.

No sooner did they see the abnormality, did it howl.

A sound of primal rage.

The cry of a Beast bent only on annihilating anything and everything.

Without delay, the Beast threw itself against Issei's Wall with a ferocity that could not be conceived of by anything with a functioning mind.

As it did, it began to grow and change.

Heads, wings, paws, claws, jaws, fur, hide, tails and all manner of limbs erupted from the creature in a grotesque display.

It had completely transformed in that eye blink between emerging from the cracked void and impacting against Issei's Wall.

Vaguely primate-shaped and covered in writhing fur, densely packed scales and bulbous flesh, nobody would mistake this creature for anything remotely natural.

Each of its stout arms was from a different animal. All four of them. Its enormous legs, one pachydermal and the other feline were each thicker than two of those arms combined.

Seven enormous tails, long and thick, each of beasts that had no reason or relation to one another, grew from its twisted back in different shapes, yet all deadly in one way or another.

Erupting from shoulders of bulging flesh and scales, seven necks stretched toward the sky and upon each of them were the heads of seven beasts, ravening, roaring, crying and braying for slaughter and destruction.

The only commonality between the white core and the beast that impacted the Crimson Wall was the ten horns upon their head.

"Satans!" Issei cried in pained surprise as the Beast crashed against his armour, claws tearing, beaks pecking, and tails lashing him with a fury.

"Ise!" Asia immediately started to heal him, trying to lighten the load slightly.

All the while, the Beast continued to grow, its power being wrenched from the seals Rizevim had left untouched.

"He won't be able to hold out," Akeno noted with worry, comparing the growth rate between Issei and the Beast.

It was simply returning to its full strength faster than Issei could grow, and its ceiling was higher.

They had left Ophis behind, fearing Rizevim would have sensed her, and now they were coming to regret it.

Georg didn't answer, continuing to stare intently at the Beast through the Wall.

The misty walls of the dimension started to close around the Beast, a hazy blur starting to distort its form.

666 did not care, throwing itself against the Crimson World Wall with greater destructive power with every second.

Blood started to drip from Georg's nose.

The mist surrounded the Beast as it started to use magic.

Great tides of power, unfocused on any effect but complete annihilation, washed against Issei's scaled armour.

The blood came from Georg's ears now, with great red rivulets dripping in thick globules down his face.

"GAH!" Issei cried out in pain as the Beast, now hundreds of meters tall, plunged a bladed tail through the Wall.

He tried to hold on, but the time he had to grow and Boost was too short to stand up to this power level so quickly.

Those he protected could not cross the barrier and were forced to helplessly watch the onslaught.

A clawed arm tore large gashes from the Crimson World Wall, and Issei cried out again, the wounds reflecting on his actual body.

Then the Beast was gone, swallowed by the mist.

The Wall crumbled, but Xenovia was there to catch Issei before he crashed into the ground.

The hole in his chest quickly healed, and he gave Asia a smile of thanks.

Nobody had caught Georg as he collapsed, blood pouring from his eyes.

Asia still healed him once Issei was out of danger.

"Urhg."

The last Hero Faction member grunted as he stood, wiping blood from his face with a cloth. He looked at his blood-covered glasses, sighed, and threw them away before producing a new pair.

Slightly recovered but still a bit wobbly, Georg nodded toward Asia.

"You have my thanks. That could have been... very bad for me if you didn't help me."

"You're welcome," the former nun gave the descendent of Faust a warm smile.

Not everyone was as kind as her, though.

"Where did you send it?" Mikasa asked, grabbing the young man by his robe and dragging him to eye level. "Where is Eren? What is he planning?"

Adjusting his glasses, which had slipped from the violent motion, Georg answered leisurely as if he wasn't in a hurry.

"I just sent it to the Dimensional Gap. It would have ended up there anyway after it killed us and destroyed this dimension." Georg looked over the Pawn's shoulder to meet Issei's still woozy eyes. "I do apologize for our continued use of you. The Hero Faction and Eren owe you quite a bit of thanks."

"What did you do to Issei-senpai," a shaky Gasper asked, Grail still clasped in the plastic claw toy.

"Used him as bait," Georg said bluntly. Then he paused, tilted his head, and continued. "Again. My apologies for last time as well. It was necessary. If it makes you feel better, I do not believe there are any plans to do so again."

"It doesn't!" Issei retorted, feeling quite indignant.

"That's too bad," Georg replied blandly, looking back to the glaring Mikasa. "As I mentioned, the Beast of Apocalypse, 666, or Trihexa, however you wish to call it, operates by instinct to destroy. But it is fascinated with all things related to Great Red and Ophis, the only ones comparable to it in power. Hyoudou was brought back by Great Red, and his presence distracted it long enough to send it away before we died."

If what the magician was saying was true, it didn't take a genius to understand that the creature... thing... would head to the greatest source of that power.

"Where is Great Red's body?!"

"Where is Eren?!"

Vali's and Mikasa's questions came out simultaneously, understanding what the boy was doing.

"On earth," Georg replied genially. "And the Underworld... It's all over the place, really. Though I do believe the largest piece is in India."

"You..." Mikasa growled, shaking with fury.

Worse than the Rumbling.

That thought had turned over and over in Mikasa's head so many times over the last few months.

She'd tried, over and over again, to think of what it could be.

But no matter how she thought of the possibilities, of what Eren would consider worse than eliminating eighty percent of humanity, Mikasa still only came up with two answers. Neither of them would allow Eren to smile in the end.

The first and most straightforward answer was something that would lead to a number of deaths that exceeded one and a half billion.

Mikasa hadn't been able to come up with a way for the second answer to come about, and she knew she couldn't actually stop Eren with the Founder; she just did her best.

So she'd focused on the smile and what might have led to it.

She thought she'd found the answer in the young devils he'd considered his friend, but it seemed Eren had played her one last time.

"I do want to thank you for your help," Georg smiled fearlessly at the woman. "We could not have gotten here without you all. Don't worry, you'll be safe here."

"Don't hurt him," Kuroka advised at seeing Mikasa's fists tightening. "None of us can move through the Gap as quickly as him. He's our only hope of getting to Earth quickly."

"I'm trying to reach my brother," Rias said, worrying her lip as she cast her spell. "Everyone needs to be warned."

"You don't need to," Georg said genially. "They'll know soon enough. Everyone will."

"What are you trying to accomplish, Georg," Bikou asked, hands tight against his staff. "What is Eren up to? Killing Great Red wasn't enough, and now he wants a bigger battlefield on which to die? I didn't take him for the battle junkie type."

"He's not," Koneko said with complete conviction.

"You are forgetting who we are," Georg said with pride. "We are the Hero Faction! We fight for humanity! For the future! And Eren, he's one of us to the core."

"Senpai wanted to be a hero," Issei agreed hesitantly.

"But there is no such thing as heroes," Yuuto finished for him. "Senpai knows this. He won't unleash something like Trihexa just to be a 'hero.'"

"He's stalling," Akeno said, also trying to cast spells to warn those behind. "Distracting us while 666 moves."

"I am," Georg nodded. "But not till then. Until Eren is ready. We're safe here, and you can't stop me. Unless you kill me, which will leave you stranded here at the End of the World. Some of you are strong enough to survive the void, but not all of you. So, while I'm killing time, let me ask you this question. What is the greatest danger to peace?"

"Power," Rias answered instantly. Then, a bundle of destruction formed in front of the magician's nose. "Power you don't have at the moment."

"You're partially right," Georg carried on fearlessly. "A C- if I had to grade you. Uneven power is half the answer. The weak fear the strong. The strong ignore the wishes of the weak. The weak rise up and become the strong or are suppressed. The cycle continues."

"Enough of this," Mikasa snapped, throwing the magician away. "Issei!"

"YES, MA'AM?" Issei quickly stood to attention at the address.

"Start Boosting. Power up Collbrande. It should be able to cut open a way back with enough power."

"YES, MA'AM!"

"Maybe we should use soldier cosplay tonight," Xenovia whispered to Asia, who turned red at the idea.

Issei gained a derpy smile as he started to Boost.

Then his gaze went vacant.

Everyone stopped.

"Ah," Georg sighed, standing up and brushing the dirt from his cloak. "I had hoped to finish my speech first. I suppose you already have the second half of the answer."

It wasn't that the last member of the Hero Faction wasn't afflicted with the same thing as those with him in this pocket dimension.

He was.

Just like everyone else alive.

Georg had just expected the sudden dimorphism, where he existed simultaneously in two places.

Eren had told him that the trick was to do something, like cleaning himself, talking, driving a car, putting out a fire, or fighting for your life, that one could concentrate on in the real world.

The more relaxed, safe, unaware, or unengaged one was, the more one was overwhelmed by the second set of experiences. The peak was those who were asleep or unconscious. They'd have nothing to ground them from the Dream.

Georg was still there, with them, but it was a background awareness as he finished speaking.

"To make it clear, though, even differences in power can be addressed and responded to. Compromises can be reached. Agreements. Deals... Promises..."

Georg trailed off, mind wandering to promises given and kept.

Nobody answered or even paid him much attention, though he knew they were still aware of him. Could still hear him.

They could have said something, but they were too absorbed.

Neither the real world nor that cold Dream could be entirely ignored, but if one focused wholly on one, the other fell into the background.

They must be focused entirely on that world, not even trying to stop him.

So Georg regained his momentum and continued.

"But none of those can be achieved in the face of the greatest threat to peace."

For a moment, Georg allowed himself to sink into that shared Dream.

Around Georg, in a world without end that was still finite...

Where towering sand dunes stretched forever and time had no meaning...

Every sapient being looked toward the towering light in the center of this cold, blue world.

Every human, angel, fallen, devil, yokai, god, buddha, dragon, monster, and other races that could dream faced that light.

A singular, unifying experience that everyone alive shared.

And they couldn't turn away... Well, they could.

But no matter what they did or how they tried to cover their eyes and turn their head, they always faced that light.

And the figure in front of it.

Billions of eyes looked at the figures in the center of this world, yet they could all see him clearly as if he were right in front of them.

Distance wasn't a factor.

Time and space had no bearing in the Path.

At the center of this world, without beginning or end, was the sole splash of crimson in this world of blues and whites.

The enormous red dragon towered over everyone and everything. Its great eyes saw everyone, heard everything, and held all their gaze.

Yet it was still dwarfed by the pillar of light behind it.

A straight line from the center of the world stretching toward the sky that illuminated everyone.

And bathed in its blue-white glow, atop the head of the great red dragon was a young boy.

Georg tore himself from the vision by engaging his Gear and focusing on what he had to do.

He needed to return to earth, and he had no desire to see Eren, his leader and the man who had taken on the world, look like that.

There was something profoundly wrong in seeing a man in what should have been his moment of crowning triumph and glory as a six-year-old boy.

And Georg never wished to see his comrades cry.

********

The world was ending.

Trihexa, the Beast of the Apocalypse, had found Earth, the Underworld, and more.

Eren had Georg scatter pieces of Great Red's corpse throughout the realms before Rizevim had even started his journey to the End of the World.

666, having no greater thought than to destroy and finding a target-rich environment, did the same to itself.

From each of its seven heads, seven bodies split.

The horde of beasts, each only slightly weaker than the sum of their parts, spread to cover the skies of reality with their power.

And everyone, everywhere, felt it.

That power.

Magic, in all its forms, was the benchmark of strength for this world for a very good reason. While one's individual abilities gave the magic shape and inclination, enough power made distinguishment between types meaningless.

With enough power, reality becomes as you wish it to be.

Gods and dragons were the strongest races for a reason. Their very presence was a physical thing, a bundle of power so condensed that just being around it was enough to weigh one down.

For the first time since the planet had existed, the Earth and its inhabitants felt the complete focus and attention of a being equivalent to Great Red and Ophis.

Everyone could feel it.

And it was malicious.

Not evil, for evil only exists in opposition to the concept of good.

No, this was simple violence without reason. The raw, primal need to destroy.

To see something that was not the 'self' and hate it so much that it must render it all unto nothing.

Everyone felt that power and omnicidal urge that carried and knew.

Knew it was there for them. To destroy them. To kill them.

To render all unto nothing.

And that was just the presence of the Beast.

The fragments of Great Red's body had been scattered in largely uninhabited areas. Open seas, wilderness, and the like.

When Trihexa tore through the barriers of reality to get to them, its presence destroyed the world around it.

Earthquakes shook the planets and worlds. Volcanoes erupted.

The seas boiled and parted as the land was rent asunder.

Nowhere was this destruction more evident than in India, in the secret realms of the Hindu gods.

As soon as Trihexa had been pulled from attacking the Crimson World Wall, Georg had released his hold on the last pocket dimension holding Great Red's most significant piece.

A titanic dragon's head, neck, and wings fell into the laps of the Hindu deities.

Less than a minute later, as the Trimurti were still surprised and wary, Trihexa's main body tore through reality.

...

Nine seconds.

That was how long the apocalypse lasted.

Nine seconds between Trihexa's first attack and its last.

In those nine seconds, when everyone in the world felt its power and malice, the Gods and Buddhas of Mount Meru fought against the Beast of the Apocalypse.

And died to it.

They, who dominated the Top Ten, inflicted enormous damage in that short period. Each of the Trimurti was a being who could annihilate the bottom half of the list individually.

But in those nine seconds, they could not even fend Trihexa off. All wounds inflicted on it healed before any long-lasting effects could pile up.

Shiva, the god of destruction, instinctively understood their futility in trying to destroy something that embodied destruction.

It would be like trying to kill Great Red with a dream.

In the short span between departing the End of the World and arriving in reality, Trihexa had already destroyed the last of its seals containing its power, and not even the combined might of the Hindu Pantheon could ruin one of its forty-nine bodies.

Indra joined the Trimurti in fighting the Beast by the fourth second.

All considerations and preparations for their future war were put aside in the name of continued survival. Regardless of secrecy, they used everything they had to fend off the sudden invasion.

By the sixth second, the powers of the world, those still recovering from the attack of the Chaos Brigade, had launched their own counter-offensive against the rest of the bodies of Beast.

One could almost consider it a coincidence that those least injured, set back, or impeded by the coordinated attack by the Brigade were also those who were able and willing to throw themselves against the Beast of Apocalypse.

It wasn't.

To the boy whose past, present, and future were all the same, the decisions the greater powers of this world made in those nine seconds determined the fate they had already suffered.

By the eighth second, Trihexa's every body was engaged by at least one party, and the Hindus, not being idiots, had decided to use Great Red's severed head as bait to try and draw the Beast back to the Gap, where they could fight it at full force.

Reality was simply too fragile for them to go all out.

On the ninth second, as human governments and the unprepared barely recognized that something was happening, Eren took the last step on his Path.

One final sound resounded throughout the world on the ninth second.

[[[[[[[[[Boost!]]]]]]]]]

The power stored tipped over the edge and became self-reinforcing, even without a mind to consciously continue it.

On that tenth second...

In an empty world of blue stars, sand, and white light...

In the Unified Dream...

The boy spoke to a world that was not his own.

My name is Eren Yeager.

The boy, Eren, was crying as he spoke to the whole world. His words drowned out the voices crying out in confusion, fear, panic, or wonder.

Flesh bulged from every piece of Great Red scattered across the world and pocket realms. Growing, distending, and bursting.

I am using the power of Great Red to address all those who Dream.

Eren ignored those who bowed and genuflected, just as he ignored those who raged and fought for liberation from this strange mental prison. God or human. Angel or devil. Old or young. He ignored them all as he spoke into their very being.

From the flesh of the Dream, Titans were born.

Enormous humanoid figures, each hundreds of meters tall, these beings were even slightly larger than Trihexa.

I am from a world beyond yours.

For Eren could not see them. He was in his Path, that single line linking past, present and future. This moment was one he'd lived for thirteen years, no different from any other except the knowledge of what he was doing to the people he could not see but knew were watching.

These were not Titans as this world, or any world, had ever seen before. There were only two types, each fashioned after the Colossal Titan.

Each was larger than a regular Colossal, but they were still the giants of muscle and exposed bone. These two Titans duplicated hundreds of times, flowed forth from the flesh of the Dragon of Dreams.

And I have seen this world end.

Eren showed them a fraction of his experience. A few of the countless scenes of possible futures he experienced. They were but a tiny piece of various probabilities. The ones in which he survived long enough to witness their end.

In countless others, Eren Yeager died before the apocalypse, not strong enough to see it through to a 'finale.'

Everyone had seen images of Eren's Colossal Titan, the first form he took when destroying Agreas, and recognized one of these models as him by its long dark hair, green eyes, and pointed ears.

Only Mikasa Ackerman would recognize the second. Its bald head, lack of ears, more prominent ribcage, and stockier frame were as familiar to her as Eren's.

When shown pictures, her eyes would mist, and when her niece would ask what was wrong, she'd answer simply.

'Nothing. Just... glad to see Armin and Eren fighting side by side again.'

Countless times. In countless ways.

Eren did not show them the world the slow deaths. The ones that would stretch over years, decades, and centuries. He had not seen anything beyond his meagre nineteen years.

That still gave him plenty to show.

On the fists of those two Titans, red gauntlets cried out every ten seconds with an empty, emotionless voice:

[Boost!]

The army of Titans, created by Great Red's memory of Issei Hyoudou and the Boosted Gear, with the aid of the Holy Grail and Ophis' Infinite power, rose on Crimson Scale Mail wings to battle Trihexa on that tenth second.

Sometimes, it is from the inhabitants of this world. You inflict it upon yourself.

Eren first showed them the bombs falling. The searing heat and rumbling earth. Great mushroom clouds blocked out the sun and choked the sky with their poison. The earth shattered under their unsurpassed power, and nothing remained.

The supernatural side, hidden in their pocket worlds or Underworld, survived, but only for a bit longer. Without humans, they withered away, or their societies collapsed upon themselves.

The Beast of the Apocalypse did not care about the new arrivals.

It sought only destruction and saw these Titans as an extension of the Dream and the Infinite based on the power coursing through them.

Its entire focus was on destroying the Titans that rose against it, completely ignoring all the lesser beings around.

Wars of humans against the supernatural, those beings who have lived beside you for thousands of years.

Eren showed them the genocides. The persecution of beings that were different. That were inhuman. Angel. Devil. Yokai. Spirit. Dragon. It didn't matter.

In this future, humanity achieved power. They were gifted power, and they used to exterminate all other life. Or humanity lost and were exterminated in turn by those beings who were so much stronger than them.

666 did not care for collateral or long-term plans.

It simply attacked.

Always attacking.

Always advancing.

Wars of gods against gods. Angel against devils.

The Great War restarted, the skies were blanketed by Light, and blood fell as rain. Devils rose up behind twelve beings, each wielding a weapon of unsurpassed power and evil.

A coalition of Evil Gods, Hades at their lead, laid waste to all who would oppose them.

Indra and Shiva, at the peak of their power and preparations, battled across reality, and their war's aftereffects rippling through to all life that could flourish.

Some bodies attacked in tides of power, blasts of magic, and beams of destructive energy. Others physically launched themselves at the Titans, tearing into flesh with claw, fang, and bone. Tails lashed, and wings beat against the Colossal Titans.

You drown in the oceans of blood you make.

Time after time, Eren showed them possible futures. Ones of death, destruction, and war.

They cried out for mercy. For forgiveness.

Nobody could escape Eren's tyrannical grip, no matter how they tried to close their eyes, turn their sight or tune him out.

They could not ignore reality.

Eren... did not fight back.

Heroes have risen against the greatest threats to the peace of this world, buying you a little more time.

Visions swam of Jeanne, leading an army of spirits to swarm the dark monsters of the Underworld across Olympus's mountain.

Visions of Siegfried destroying inhuman facilitates of research, human and otherwise.

Of Heracles detonating himself in the middle of the battle between gods and dragons.

Of Cao Cao slaying Loki and Hades.

For a moment, spirits were buoyed by hope as they watched from the eyes of tiny white birds. The smallest Titans ever created.

Both forms of Eren's Titans continued to fly at the Beasts, unmindful of the damage they received.

I am not one of them.

Only to come crashing down.

Touki. Senjutsu. Amour. Flesh.

Trihexa tore through it all.

I destroyed my world.

The visions turned, and everyone felt it. The fear of the red tide. The pain of being crushed. The heat of steaming flesh.

Their insignificance as enormous feet trampled them and their world flat.

Yet... The Titans didn't fall.

I have watched others like me, from beyond your world, destroy this one. Those futures are the most likely. If you do not destroy your world, they will.

From beyond time and space, they came. Innumerable, uncountable creatures. Other in a way most brains simply couldn't comprehend. Some were humanoid, but most were too alien to understand. Masses of shapes and forms and sounds and concepts.

With bodies stronger than any before, crafted from the flesh of Great Red, buoyed by the Ki manipulation of the greatest sage to ever live and the most significant portion of Ophis' power, not even the Beast of the Apocalypse could destroy these Titans quickly.

The Beast you've witnessed is just the first.

Eren showed them a future where he did nothing, sitting back and hidden. Even without his presence to direct him, Rizevim's boredom, ego, and nihilism led him to unseal Trihexa.

In that future, the son of the devil caught everyone unprepared, and 666 laid waste to the world before organized opposition could form. It rendered all to rubble, then destroyed the rubble as well. Until there was nothing left, and it departed this reality in search of more to destroy.

Three of this universe's top four strongest beings were contained in these bodies...

...That had been Boosting, doubling their power, without end for four months!

It will not be the last.

In the next future, Trihexa was resealed by a coalition of gods, Buddhas, and other beings of power. They sacrificed themselves to hold off the end.

It left the world defenceless when the armies from other worlds came.

No sooner had a Titan been injured than it healed. Endlessly, Trihexa tore, rent, obliterated, and destroyed these giants. Endlessly, they continued to advance, drawing closer.

Others will find you. They will tear your idyllic peace and ignorant violence apart.

From Eren's eyes, they watched the invasions. The systematic destruction of the world as they knew it. Not annihilation, like the Beast wished, but assimilation.

This world would just become one of countless others. Another factory world, where inhabitants, materials, and workers were all indistinguishable from one another.

As the forty-nine bodies of the Beast destroyed and destroyed and destroyed and destroyed to its heart's content, Eren surrounded them in Titans.

They will take from you what they wish and destroy the rest.

Sometimes, the invaders, who were never of the same race or people, wanted one thing in particular.

They'd destroy everything else to gain what they wished, leaving the rest of the world to struggle in the aftermath, helplessly waiting for the next time someone wished to take something from them.

Layers and layers deep, Trihexa was tightly pressed by the endlessly regenerating flesh of Titans.

And, once the Beast's bodies were contained, packed so tightly with so many bodies that the blood it was drunk on could not fall through, the Titans took flight once more on their crimson-scaled wings.

Your defenders will be slain by the attackers waiting outside your universe.

In this future, Great Red was slain by great machine gods, rendered into parts, and rebuilt as the newest weapon of their ever-expanding multiversal wars.

The Titans pierced the veil between reality and the Dimensional Gap quickly.

The worlds collectively let out a breath of relief, feeling that power and malice leave them unmolested. It was an almost unconscious thing, as they were still trapped in the Dream.

Or by those they protected.

Loki, alive and enhanced by complicated magical machinery, turned upon his home world in exchange for power. Or survival. He wasn't the only one. In every future, there were those who would choose to turn against this world for their own interests. Maybe for love. Or survival. Or simple greed. Or vengence.

The Titans continued to multiply as they carried their forty-nine bundles through the psychedelic nothing of the Gap. They did not try to battle the Beast, for its regeneration matched their own.

Instead, they simply fed it a never-ending buffet of flesh and bodies upon which its endless appetite for destruction could feast as they carried it toward the End of the World.

Perhaps the Beast would have won at the end of this limitless battle of endurance had every ten seconds not brought another multiplication in power, always keeping the Titans' regeneration just a bit ahead of Trihexa's destruction.

Not once, in any future I witnessed, have I ever seen you unify to fight off this threat.

Even as the invasions, apocalypses, and wars played out in front of their eyes.

Even as they heard the screams of the dying and smelled the stench of the dead.

In no future was there ever unity of purpose. Any attempt to gain it, even from those with the best intentions and methods, was always met with opposition.

The Titans skirted around the pocked dimension, which still contained those few souls who had made this all possible, and placed themselves and their apocalyptic contents right where this World met the chaotic void that separated it from other Worlds.

There, where the rules of reality ceased, the Titans linked.

Arms grasped arms.

Scaled wings spread and overlapped with scaled wings.

Titans spread all along that great boundary, that sole ingress and egress to this World.

So I took the choice from you.

Finally, blessedly, the visions of the possible futures ended. In their place was a simple sight.

Had the misty walls of Dimension Lost parted, Mikasa, Team Vali, and the Gremory Group would have witnessed what they saw in the Dream with their bare eyes.

I do this knowing I am cursing you to a slow demise.

A wall.

A wall.

I do this knowing the chaos that will follow this day.

The Wall.

Issei would have cried out in surprise at its resemblance to his technique, wondering how Eren had done it. He might have even lamented that his Senpai had upstaged him.

I do this knowing most of you will fight each other rather than face your predators.

An enormous creation, forged from the bodies of countless Titans and trapping the Beast of the Apocalypse within itself.

Mikasa would have instantly recognized the differences between Issei's Crimson World Wall and this creation.

She had spent her entire youth living in the shadows of this wall.

I do this knowing I am leaving behind a legacy of hatred and fear.

It was half real, half Dream. It stretched endlessly around their World.

It had no beginning or end, a constant of their reality, fuelled by their Dreams and the constant doubling of power to maintain itself.

The Red Dragon Emperor's technique was created to empower those it protected.

This wall went both ways.

I do this knowing the intoxication of vengeance and war.

It was there, an obstacle at the End of the World. A barrier against the predations from other worlds.

Made from the endlessly regrowing flesh of Titans, with the shades of fallen heroes patrolling its battlements and containing the Beast of the Apocalypse within, it was a monument to the World's helplessness.

To their fear and shame.

This was a prison.

I do this because I can.

A cage to keep them confined.

Unless they were stronger than Trihexa, they had no hope of destroying this barrier and going beyond it to the worlds outside.

I do this knowing that all Walls fall.

No matter what they'd try, where they'd go, or when it would be, the Wall will always be there to stop them from leaving this world.

They were trapped.

The second of two fates Eren would consider worse than the Rumbling.

An impassible, unbreakable, and endless wall.

Whether something stronger than these Walls finds your pen while you squabble like braying livestock.

Eren could not show them a future where beings from beyond their world destroyed the Wall, for he had not seen such a future before his death.

Instead, he showed them his perspective of That Day.

Seeing the Colossal Titan looming over what was once considered an impenetrable bastion of safety and knowing it was all a lie. Eren let them feel his fear and shame of living as an animal in a cage.

Yet... As her gaze shifted from the Wall, Mikasa would see the look in Rias Gremory's eyes.

Whether someone who yearns for the worlds beyond these Walls grows strong enough to tear them down.

Eren showed them that moment, let them feel his joy, resignation, and determination as he tore down the walls that once entrapped him, beginning the Rumbling.

That hungry yearning.

That rampant desire.

That heat that swelled from a beating heart.

'We will be free.'

Success or failure. Predator or prey. Death or survival.

Eren's words, the futures he showed the world, the terror of forcing the world to confront itself and the horrors that lurked beyond.

It all served one single purpose.

And Mikasa Ackerman would finally understand everything.

All Walls must fall.

A warning and a plea.

The world could not, would not, continue as it had been. In ignorance and where old power prevented new growth that yearned for freedom from the yoke of the past.

Why he could smile at the end, even as he recreated the one thing he hated most in the world.

My name is Eren Yeager.

Either the world shaped up, grew up, came to understand itself and found a path forward, or it would be destroyed- by others or by itself.

Eren destroyed the world and saved it, bringing both terror and hope.

The chaos that would follow this day was unimaginable, but Eren had bought them time by sacrificing the last of his values he could afford to throw away.

Eren had given up on his greatest desire, the one that had shaped him since he was a boy, all for a world that was not his own. A people that were not his own.

I have stolen your freedom.

Yet, one tragedy was inflicted solely on the boy who cried as he imprisoned a world.

He, Eren Yeager, who had experienced this moment his entire life...

Yet, that desire, that wish, was not destroyed when Eren threw it away.

It had been picked up.

Scattered and fragmented between many people, that wish, that heart he had shared on the bench would remain. The lessons he taught would be carried.

Mikasa could see it now, the future Eren wished for, in the young devils that surrounded her.

She could imagine the look on Sona's face back in Kuoh.

The realization of hope.

Please.

... Could not hear the voices or see the faces of those desperately running, flying, or chasing toward him through those infinite dunes. Even as they tried to reach him, to convey their feelings, promises, and understanding to him...

In dedicating his heart to a world Eren would never see, a freedom he'd never experience, and a hope he could never truly bring himself to fully believe in...

In giving up his life, his ideals, his freedom...

Take it back.

Eren, as he had been for thirteen years, was blind to those he loved and the ones he was truly entrusting this world's future to.

Eren Yeager could smile because he was finally free of the chains he had placed on himself.

********

"Here," Eren gasped out through laboured breath.

Without Great Red sustaining him anymore, with Ophis' power run its course, not even the reinforcement from the Grail and his Senjutsu could hold his body entirely together.

Wounds were opening along his flesh, gashes and tears from parts of his body that were missing were steaming as they tried to heal.

It was too slow. Too weak.

Eren had given everything he had accumulated, thirteen years of work, planning, and power growth.

And given it to that Wall.

Eren's stubbornness was keeping him alive just a little longer, but this was it.

His time was up.

They both knew it.

"Are you sure?" Georg asked, looking around the park and hefting his leader over his shoulder. "This is Kuoh. They'll find you and-"

"It has to be here," Eren interrupted, nodding toward the bench that rested in that little clearing. "I am meeting someone."

"... All right," Georg swallowed his worry as he half carried Eren toward the wooden bench.

It was evident by the wards that this area was protected by the Gremory and Sitri heiresses.

Judging by the min-fridge, hammocks, and other quality-of-life items, the devils frequently used this area. Georg was worried that if... once Eren died, they'd deface his body, parading it around or something equally horrid.

They didn't seem like bad people, but after everything Eren had done, Georg feared the worst.

As always, though, Georg followed his leader's orders.

With little effort, Georg set down the weak man on the wooden bench.

Eren collapsed, leaning against the backrest as his body failed to support himself.

Georg looked down at the man who had changed the world, who had accomplished so much and irreversibly left his mark.

He looked weak. Tired. Gaunt. Even as Georg watched, pieces of Eren's cheek flaked off, falling in a bloody lump. The wound started to steam, healing, but it was one of many.

The last few months, trapped within the corpse of the Dream without food, water, and focusing solely on growing strong enough had taken their toll on a body already at its limit.

Georg could not save him.

All he could do was give his comrade one last gift, an action he took wholly without instruction.

"Here." A cane appeared in Georg's hand, and he pressed it into Eren's hands. They tightened around the familiar handle on instinct. "I picked it up during the battle in the Underworld."

Eren used the cane to push himself upright slightly. Enough that he could look Georg in the eyes.

"Thank you," he said softly, fingers running fondly over the white and blue wings carved into the pommel. "It means a lot to me."

With a shaky hand, Eren reached into the clothes that hung on his thin frame and withdrew the last Grail.

"I've taken too much already... It can't help me anymore," Eren said, holding out the cup. "Give it to them."

Georg took the holy artifact, and his hands trembled just as much as Eren's, if for different reasons.

Both young men looked at each other.

Georg knew it was time.

Knew Eren wanted to be alone, here at the end.

There was so much said and unsaid between them. Words of trust, camaraderie, thanks, and so many more that would forever go unspoken.

But there was one thing Georg needed to say, no matter what.

"Boss... Eren," Georg drew in a breath, swallowing his tears as he stood up straight.

He spoke with full force and pride, not letting a hint of sadness or loss enter his tone.

Here, at the end, he needed to say these words.

For dead heroes and those not yet born who would follow in their footsteps.

For those comrades who had dedicated themselves to a future they would never see.

And for the boy who had helped them accomplish their dreams.

"No matter what you or the world think."

Georg saluted the boy on the bench, his back straight and chest held proudly.

"It was an honour to fight beside you. You were a true hero!"

Eren's face twitched, but Georg couldn't read it.

It didn't matter.

The fact that Eren felt something at all at Georg's words, even if he disagreed, meant his feelings had been conveyed.

Yet Eren did not recriminate the final survivor of the Hero Faction.

He just gave one last command.

"Georg...Live a long and happy life."

"Yes sir!"

Georg turned sharply, setting out to fulfill his final orders.

The tears started to flow once the last member of the Hero Faction was embraced in that familiar mist.

Eren watched the mist dissipate.

Here he was, alone on the bench at the end of the Path.

Eren took a few moments just to breathe.

To recover what little strength he could for this final meeting.

The others would be here soon, and he had a meeting to finish first.

Thirteen years... Or nineteen, depending on how one looked at it.

His birthday had been yesterday.

Koneko would be a junior now. Issei and Yuuto would be seniors. Rias, Akeno, and Sona would all be in college now.

Had they celebrated the milestone?

Had they done it here?

Had Kuroka been with them?

And Mikasa?

...Eren wished he could see them again, one last time.

But he couldn't.

That was not how his Path ended.

In many ways, it had ended that night on the beach.

Now, he was just going through the final motions.

And confronting the truth of his time in this world.

Eren had done it.

He'd forced the horrors of the Titans on this world. He'd trapped everyone in a cage, walls greater than ever created before. This world had become cattle waiting for the slaughter.

Until something broke those damn walls.

From the outside, seeking the prey within...

Or from the inside, seeking the freedom without.

Eren had kept moving forward, one step at a time, to this end.

He finally had the answers he had searched for.

Or at least most of them.

One last meeting...

Then he could smile.

"Are you going to remain silent until the end?"

For a long moment, nobody answered.

Then a voice answered Eren, seeming to originate from nowhere at all.

"How'd you know I was here?"

"I need to know if you plan to do anything else with Mikasa and the others. If you intend to hurt them..."

"... Did you know it was me?"

"It was clear someone was behind everything. Someone with knowledge of other worlds and power enough to move between them."

"I can think of a few other suspects. Ones who aren't dead."

"...The futures where Rizevim touches my spine all end instantly."

"You could have just died. All your futures end with your death."

"It was just the confirmation. I had my suspicions about who you were for a while. Stop trying to distract me."

"...Apologies. I've waited for... a long time to talk to you. This is my first and last conversation. I'll answer your questions. I just need to know if I missed something. An old man's curiosity, if nothing else."

"You should know even more than me."

"I do, and I don't. This bench... I created it to block my power. I am as blind to your time on it as you are. This conversation included. Like you, I am not a mind reader... Never was."

"...I can survive after my spine is severed for long enough to heal. But Rizevim still kills me? I had a theory, one I tested after I left this bench."

"But not before?"

"After meeting Mikasa again and learning that our presence was deliberate, I wondered who could be behind it. Then I remembered Michael."

"Ah."

"Months with the Satan's siblings, but they never sat with me on the bench. Neither did Azazel, even though he was only a hundred meters away for weeks. They had plenty of opportunities. But they never did."

"They are busy people and thought you were only human. It's not really suspicious."

"Michael was in Kuoh for one day and sat with me. He, the strongest fighter of Heaven, was as protected from the Paths as Mikasa. I couldn't attack Heaven and predict the results accurately enough to guarantee a favourable result."

"...You'll have to forgive a father's desire to protect his children."

"I can. I answered your question. Now answer mine."

Eren asked the most important question to the dead God beside him on the bench.

"Why?"