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The air outside the main gate of the 103rd Cadet Corps 2nd Quadrant hung heavy with the metallic bite of blood and the sharp, acrid sting of ozone, a lingering psychic residue that clung to the skin like invisible smoke. Keiji, Abel, and Nifa stood in a loose triangle around their horses, the animals stamping and snorting restlessly as if they, too, could sense the wrongness in the world.
"What in the absolute hell was that?" Nifa whispered, clutching her injured leg where a Knight's blade had opened a deep gash. Her face was pale, the usual fierce light in her eyes dimmed by shock. "It felt like… like something screaming inside my own head."
Keiji, his broad shoulder sporting a nasty gash from the earlier fight, leaned against his horse, squinting toward the gate. "Something broke. In there. Something worse than before." His practical mind was struggling to categorize the sensation. It wasn't a Titan's roar. It was a violation.
Abel, nursing a wounded thigh he had hastily tied up, spat a glob of bloody phlegm onto the dirt. "Purge, my ass. Felt like the worst Titan fear I've ever had, but... worse. Like it was coming from the inside out. My chest got tight. Thought I was having a heart attack for a second."
They were debating their next move; whether to try and find another way back in to support Mike and Hange, or fall back to get word to Erwin; when the first tendrils of new smoke caught their eyes. Not the lazy plumes from a campfire, but thick, black, roiling pillars climbing with alarming speed from within the training grounds proper, beyond the gate.
"Fire," Keiji stated. "A big one. The hell did this start?" He turned to the rest of the squad. "Mount up! We're going in—rescue, containment, whatever it takes!"
The squad moved as one, the horses stamping impatiently as they swung into the saddles.
"Ready?" Keiji called, her voice cutting through the tension.
Before anyone could answer, the ground rumbled. Not a gentle tremor; a deep, bone- shaking vibration that made the horses whinny in panic and the riders grip their reins tighter. Dust puffed from the earth. It started as a faint vibration, a buzzing in the soles of their boots. Then it grew—a rhythmic, thunderous THUMP-THUMP-THUMP that shook pebbles on the path. It was coming from the other side of the gate, fast, and getting faster, and the air was getting hotter.
"What the—?" Abel started.
The gate exploded outward.
Not from hinges or force, but from the sheer, unstoppable momentum of something massive charging through it. The iron bars bent like paper, one side ripping free with a screech of tortured metal. And there it was.
A godforsaken abomination.
Six meters of pure nightmare, a hulking, on-fire monstrosity that defied every law of nature. Its body was a twisted parody of the demon dog they had glimpsed earlier; purple fur matted and smoking, V-shaped patterns along its spine blazing white-hot like veins of molten metal. But it had grown, mutated into something grotesque and towering, its shoulders hunched like a bear's, its limbs elongated and corded with unnatural muscle. The parasite within; visible now as a writhing, glowing centipede of white energy coiled around its spine; pulsed erratically, fueling the inferno that consumed it. Flames licked from its fur, its eyes, its open maw dripping with sizzling saliva that ignited the ground where it fell. The heat rolled off it in waves, warping the air into a shimmering haze that made its form seem to flicker, half-phased, half-solid.
It was no longer a beast. It was a living wildfire, a titan of rage and pain, its six-meter frame casting a shadow that swallowed the gatehouse whole. The psychic stench of its terror was a physical wave that followed it, making the scouts' stomachs churn.
"ABOMINATION!" Nifa screamed, her horse rearing in terror.
"Take cover!" Keiji roared, his survival instincts screaming.
Abel reacted first, pure instinct kicking in. He lunged sideways, shoving Nifa off her mount with a desperate heave. "MOVE!"
The abomination charged, its massive paws slamming the ground with earth-shaking force, flames trailing in its wake. It didn't see them. It didn't care. The impact sent shockwaves rippling outward, cracking stone and toppling a nearby tree with a groan of splintering wood. Nifa hit the dirt hard, rolling to avoid the beast's path, her ODM gear scraping sparks against the earth. Abel dove the other way, his injured thigh screaming in protest as he barely cleared the monster's shoulder.
Keiji, on the far side, was already in motion. He fired his anchors into the gatehouse wall, yanking himself upward and away as the abomination barreled past, its flaming bulk missing him by inches. The heat scorched his cloak, singeing the fabric and raising blisters on his exposed arm. He landed hard on the roof of the gatehouse, gasping, watching the beast thunder through the clearing beyond.
The horses panicked. Amng the six, three bolted in different directions, reins snapping free. One; a sturdy bay; managed to clear the flames and disappear into the smoke. The other two reared, eyes rolling white, before the squad grabbed their bridles, hauling them back with curses and raw strength. Abel wrestled his mount down, his face set in grim determination. "Easy, girl! Easy!"
When the coast cleared; the abomination vanishing into the treeline, leaving a trail of ignited brush and scorched earth; the squad regrouped, breathing hard. The gate was a twisted ruin, flames licking at the remaining bars. The path inside was blocked, the fire spreading like a living thing, consuming the dry grass and wooden structures with greedy hunger.
"That's… that's the demon dog?!" Nifa gasped, her voice barely audible over the roar of its passage and the fire blooming in its wake.
"Shit," Keiji muttered, staring at the inferno. "We can't pass through that. Not without burning alive."
Abel checked his horse's legs, his thigh wound throbbing. "Last time I recall joining the Survey Corps, it was for Titans. Not... whatever the hell that was."
Nifa nodded, her voice tight. "And if we don't move, we'll be sitting ducks. That thing could circle back."
Keiji wiped soot from his squinting eyes, assessing the situation with a soldier's cold calculus. The fire was spreading fast, eating into the forest that bordered the training ground's outer wall. Their comrades were inside. Cadets were inside. Mike and Hange were inside. Sitting here was a death sentence and a dereliction of duty.
"New plan," Keiji growled, swinging onto his horse with a wince. "We go around. Sitting here is suicide. Skirt the outer wall, find another entrance, or at least get to higher ground to see what's left. We're not leaving them."
Nifa and Abel nodded grimly, mounting up. They spurred their horses away from the spreading conflagration, galloping parallel to the stone perimeter wall, seeking a path through the chaos the abomination had left in its wake.
________________________
"Eren, you are an absolute psychopath," Armin whispered, his face ashen as he peered over the newly-created edge of the rocky ridge. Eren had carved a steep, glassy slope his neuroshock blasts. The rock was scorched black and smooth, a makeshift slide that gleamed ominously in the firelight, leading to a sheer drop at the bottom before the ground leveled out into the perimeter beyond the headquarters.
Hannes, leaning on a boulder for support to observe as well, his head still throbbing from the bruise, looked down the slope and let out a low, disbelieving whistle. "Kid, I said start a fire, not send us to our early graves."
Eren; still in his Aerophibian form; hovered above the slope, his wings beating a steady rhythm to maintain altitude. The young alien's visor glowed faintly as he surveyed his handiwork.
"It's ready!" his filtered voice buzzed, tinged with a note of frantic pride. "It leads down to the cleared area outside the perimeter!"
Mike stood at the edge, arms crossed, his nostrils flaring as he scented the molten stone and the advancing fire. His voice was a low, skeptical rumble. "You expect us…to slide?"
"The fire is at the base of the other side of the ridge!" Eren gestured urgently with a clawed hand toward the opposite slope, where orange light was now flickering through the trees. "You can stay and burn, or you can go! Now!"
Hange Zoe, for whom the line between genius and insanity had always been a blurry suggestion, broke into a wide, manic grin. She looked like she was one heartbeat away from leaping with a whoop.
Moblit stepped back from the edge, his face ashen. "This is madness. What about the kids? Some don't even have functional ODM gear!"
Oulo knelt at the edge, peering down with wide, country-boy eyes, his accent thick with disbelief. "No thanks! How do you know we won't be dyin'? I've got junior siblings, and a mom and dad waitin' for me back at home!"
Mikasa, her grey eyes steady but tense, pointed down the slope toward the fire raging below. "It's either this or that." The flames had eaten away most of the ground far below, a sea of orange that licked at the base of the ridge.
Oulo bristled, his face flushing. "Don't you dare talk to me like that, you little girl!"
Hange beamed, a too-calm smile spreading across her face as she reached out and grabbed Oulo by the back of his collar. Dread crept up the cadet's spine as her grip tightened. "Ma'am, can you please let go of me?"
Hange's smile widened. "Sure..."
And she pushed.
Oulo's scream split the night; a high, panicked wail that echoed off the rocks as he tumbled onto the slope. His body hit the glassy surface and shot downward like a stone on ice, arms flailing, legs kicking futilely. The slide was steeper than it looked, the heat from the rock warming his uniform as he accelerated, the world blurring into streaks of fire and stone. "AHHHHHHHH—!"
Hange shrieked, a gleeful, mad laugh escaping her as she leaped after him. "LAST ONE DOWN'S A ROTTEN EGG!" She hit the slope feet-first, sliding with reckless abandon, her ODM gear ready but unused for the moment. "WHEEEEEEEEE!"
The others stared in horror. Moblit yelled, "HANGE!" while the cadets exchanged wide-eyed glances, some frozen in terror, others muttering curses.
Mike looked down, his face a mask of grim resignation. "This is bullshit." But the fire was closing in, the heat pressing against their backs like a living wall. He took a step, then slid, his massive frame picking up speed with a low grunt.
Hannes glanced at the remaining cadets, his voice steady despite the chaos. "What are you waiting for? Get going! It's either the fire or the slide!"
Some hesitated, but the flames licked closer, embers stinging their skin. One by one, they jumped; first a cluster of boys, then girls, their screams mingling with Oulo's fading wail.
Petra and Tina exchanged a look; Tina leaned on her crystalline staff, her pierced leg trembling. "Well... there goes nothing." They jumped together, Petra supporting Tina as they slid.
Meanwhile, Oulo was still screaming, his body rocketing down the glassy slope, the wind tearing at his uniform. The end approached, a sharp drop into open air. Hange, close behind, activated her ODM gear with a hiss of cables. The anchor bit into a tree just beyond the perimeter, and she swung out, catching Oulo mid-fall with a grunt. They landed hard in the dirt outside the headquarters' boundary, Hange rolling to absorb the impact. She stood, beaming, brushing dirt from her coat.
"See? That wasn't so bad, was it?"
Oulo lay there, eyes wide, mouth agape. Then his head lolled back, and he fainted dead away.
Mike came in second, free-falling with a stoic grunt before activating his ODM gear. The cable anchored to a sturdy tree, and he swung down, landing beside Hange with a thud. He glanced at the unconscious cadet, then at Hange. "You alright? And the kid?"
Hange nodded, though her side wound throbbed. "We are A. O. K!"
Mike nodded in acknowledgement then began scanning the sky. His blood ran cold. Hold on, some of the cadets don't have ODM gear, or it's faulty.
…This is bad.
"They're not ready!" Mike shouted up. Hange looked at him confused. "What do you mean not ready?"
"Look!"
Hange looked at the direction Mike's hands were pointing. Then realized it too, her eyes widening. "Oh no..."
A rain of bodies; cadets, some flailing, some limp; was tumbling from the end of the stone chute. They saw some fumbling with their harness release. Then they saw others, eyes shut tight, making no move to save themselves.
The two scouts began calling out, voices hoarse: "Don't jump! Stay back! Use the gear!"
But it was too late.
Back on the ridge, the panicked stampede had reached its peak. The remaining cadets; petrified with fear; pushed forward in a desperate wave. Armin noticed the problem, his face paling as he shouted, "Stop! The gear—some don't have it!"
Moblit, trying to direct traffic, was caught in the tide. "Wait! Stop! You need to—MMPH!" He was carried over the edge by the press of bodies.
Armin was caught in the remaining crowd, but Mikasa grabbed him just in time, her grip iron as she yanked him back from the edge as the last of the crowd toppled over. They were now among the few left at the top with Hannes. Armin then turned his attention to Eren, his face pale.
"Eren! The slide ends in a drop! Not everyone has working ODM gear!"
Eren's visor snapped toward Armin, then down at the falling figures. A jolt of pure, icy panic shot through him. He forgot…
He'd done this. He'd made this deathtrap. His plan was killing the people he was trying to save.
"I didn't mean to!" his voice buzzed, laced with a distress that sounded eerily childlike coming from the alien form. He dove, a red-and-black streak.
He was fast. He snatched a cadet out of the air, then another, setting them down roughly but alive before shooting back up. But there were too many. They were falling like stones. Mike and Hange were a blur of green below, anchors firing, snatching who they could, but they were two people against a dozen falling bodies.
"OI! YOU DID THIS, THINK OF SOMETHING!" Mike roared up at him, the command ripping from his throat as he barely caught a sobbing girl by her arm, her momentum nearly dislocating his shoulder.
Think! Think! Eren's mind raced, faster than his wings could beat. He couldn't catch them all. He needed something bigger. A net? A cushion?
A desperate, insane idea took hold. He stopped trying to catch individuals. Instead, he pulled up sharply and began to fly in a tight, rapid circle just above the landing zone, right where the cadets were falling.
At first, it looked like he was having a fit. He wobbled, clipped a tree branch, sending leaves flying. But he kept going in circles again…and again...and again, non stop.
"What's it doing?!" Mike asked in confusion.
"Does it look like I know?!" Hange retorted. She's really hoping it doesn't have brain damage.
Then, the circling stabilized. Then it accelerated. With a sound like a giant tearing canvas, the air itself began to obey. Eren's powerful wings, his innate Aerophibian mastery over atmospheric pressure, became the engine of a living tornado. A controlled, vertical vortex of wind erupted in the clearing, a cylinder of howling force.
The remaining falling cadets tumbled into its outer edges. Instead of plummeting, they were caught, their descent slowed, their bodies swept into a spiraling current within the funnel. They tumbled, yes, but it was a tumbling fall, not a deadly drop. Cloaks, boots, and bits of broken gear were ripped away and shot out the top, but the people; the precious, fragile people; were held in the wind's grip.
Hange's jaw hung open while Mike's eyes widened. The creature…was spinning, in a circle, to prevent the cadets from falling.
Hange's scientific ecstasy returned, overwhelming even the crisis. "A LOW-PRESSURE MOMENTUM TO DECELERATE TERMINAL VELOCITY! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! IT'S BEAUTIFUL! You clever bastard! Of course, keep going! Cushion those cadets with all your might!" she shrieked, jumping up and down.
Mike just stared, his legendary composure utterly shattered. This wasn't soldiering. This was mythology. It was like staring at a myth doing the impossible.
Armin, from the ridge top, watched his best friend become a force of nature. "He's… containing the kinetic energy… redistributing it through angular momentum…" he murmured, awestruck.
After what felt like an eternity but was only seconds, Eren began to slow his circles. The vortex gentled, losing its cohesion. The trapped cadets, dizzy and terrified, descended the last ten feet in a chaotic but survivable rain of limbs, landing in a groaning, coughing heap in the center of the clearing.
One immediately rolled over and vomited. Another was sobbing with relief. Hange and Mike reached the pile, and the former began wailing as soon as she spotted her assistant, "Moblit was able to enjoy the fun!"
Said person, tangled in the limbs, groaned as he tried to extricate himself. "Squad Leader... I did not enjoy that."
Eren; dizzy from the effort, flew back to the top where Mikasa, Armin, and Hannes remained. The stunt had taken a drain on energy he didn't know he had. His wings drooped slightly. Hannes looked at the pile, then at the panting alien, and let out a shaky laugh. "Well, I'll be damned. You actually pulled it off, you crazy kid."
The garrison clapped him on the shoulder. "I'll take the kids down myself. You start the fire."
Eren nodded, his visor dimming slightly. He got some distance, then fired neuroshock blasts at the mountain ridge, generating controlled flames. He waited until Hannes had safely taken Mikasa and Armin down the slope, then intensified the blasts. At first, the fire sputtered, refusing to spread. Eren cursed internally, adjusting the beams; focusing the energy to ignite dry brush and create a backburn line. Eventually, it caught, the flames roaring to life in a controlled wall that began eating away at the main inferno's fuel. All that was left was for it to die over, which would take a long while.
Eren flew back down, landing beside the group. "Is everyone okay?"
Before they could answer, hooves sounded. The remaining members of Hange's squad; Keiji, Abel, and Nifa; arrived, their horses lathered and their faces grim.
"Squad Leader!" Keiji called. "We saw an abomination running out of here; spreading fire in its wake! The demon dog, it's—!"
The three took in the scene before them properly; the pile of moaning cadets, Mike and Hange who were just turning to their direction, a Garrison man and two children, and the towering, alien creature in their midst.
Instinct took over. Injured but battle-ready, they drew their blades, horses skittering. "What the hell is that?!" Keiji barked, leveling his sword at Eren.
"Stand down!" Mike and Hange shouted in unison, moving between the squad and the Aerophibian.
"It's with us!" Hange added, though her definition of 'with us' was clearly flexible.
"But-"
"It just saved their lives," Mike stated, his voice brooking no argument, though his eyes never left the creature.
The standoff was tense but brief, broken by Nifa pointing a trembling finger back the way they'd come. "Whatever that demon dog is—it's out! It smashed through the gate, it's on fire and it's running, lighting everything in its path! The whole woods are going up as we speak!"
Eren's head snapped up. The Vulpimancer. Still alive. Still spreading destruction. The reason for all of this. A cold, dark resolve settled over him, cutting through his fatigue and the lingering panic. The time for rescues, for slides, for vortices, was over. Eren's visor glowed brighter. He knew what that meant. He needed to go after it—now.
"I have to go," his filtered voice buzzed, turning toward the direction of the spreading new fire.
"Go where?" Mike demanded, his suspicion returning. "The beast is a walking inferno. It's likely to collapse or burn itself out."
"It won't," Eren said, the words final. He looked past Mike, past the stunned scouts, to where Armin stood. His friend's face was a conflict of grief and grim understanding. Armin had pleaded for communication, for understanding. But looking at the heap of injured, traumatized children, at the scorched land, at the spreading wildfires… the calculus had changed. Armin gave a tiny, almost imperceptible shake of his head, not in disagreement, but in sorrowful acceptance. Sometimes, a rabid animal was just a rabid animal.
Eren's gaze hardened. "It needs to be put down. Before it finds more people. Or burns down the territory."
Hannes stepped forward, placing a firm hand on Mikasa and Armin's shoulders. "We'll handle things here. Get these kids to proper safety. You…" He looked at the alien that housed the boy he'd promised Carla to protect. "You end it."
Mike, after a long, assessing look at the creature, at the determination in its posture, gave a single, curt nod. Permission. Or at least, non-interference.
Eren didn't wait. He crouched, powerful leg muscles coiling, and then launched himself into the sky with a blast of air that kicked up dust and leaves. He became a dark streak against the smoke-stained sky, angling toward the column of black smoke that marked the Vulpimancer's frenzied, destructive flight.
His final thought, echoing in the resonant hum of his form, was a vow, dark and simple.
'This ends now.'
Chapter 28-31 are already available on Patreon.com/Weeb Fanthom.