The news that Roger intended to turn all soldiers into Titans spread in a single night. From that point on, inside and outside the Walls, in every street and alley, there wasn't a single person who wasn't talking about it.
Everyone thought Roger had gone mad.
And yet, even so, plenty of people still chose to support him—deciding to follow him at any cost, to stake everything on carrying out his orders.
Because Roger had done far, far too much to save humanity.
No matter what kind of hardship they faced, he had always appeared like a savior. Every decision he made had extended the lives of everyone inside the Walls.
But even more people believed Roger was just messing around—recklessly.
Their original hope had been simple: kill every Titan, reclaim the home humanity had lost.
And now Roger was telling them they needed to turn humans into Titans?
What kind of joke was that?!
So the arguments inside the Walls raged on, everyone discussing Roger's plan in their own way.
Some believed he was playing a deep, long game.
Some believed he had ulterior motives.
But most people chose to look away—maybe out of cowardice, maybe out of reason. Either way, they wanted to wait and see how things developed.
Only Roger wasn't going to give this any more time to ferment.
He knew that if he didn't rapidly construct a Titan defense—if he didn't reach the Founding power's peak state—then Dior and the others would react soon, and seize the source of the Titan world.
And when that happened, everything would be too late.
Roger ordered Levi and Nelly Quick to gather the soldiers who volunteered to become Titan warriors. Then, alone, Roger stood atop a fifty-meter Wall—and instructed everyone else to stay away from the area around the Wall.
He told them plainly that there were Titans sealed within the Walls. And he didn't bother hiding it—he directly had them evacuate the residents near the Wall, moving them toward the center.
Next…
It would be time for the Rumbling.
But before that, Roger still had to wait for Hange's answer.
If the Survey Corps could also join the Titan army, then the number of Titans could increase by quite a lot, and the Rumbling's power would rise accordingly.
A light breeze blew in waves. Roger stood on the Wall, watching the distant sun.
Behind him, below the Wall's confinement, people lifted their heads toward the man standing above, talking in a restless buzz.
"Are they really going to become Titans?"
"Have those soldiers lost their minds?"
"Don't let this Roger fool you again. We've never truly seen through that man."
"Let's move farther away. That guy said there are a lot of Titans inside the Walls too."
The crowd clamored, stirred itself up, and fidgeted with unease.
It felt like they were about to witness history—no one's face could afford even the slightest hint of laughter.
Just then, a distant command rang out.
"All units, advance!"
With that single order, large groups of soldiers emerged from somewhere, their steps perfectly synchronized.
They were all battle-hardened Scorpion veterans. Following Roger had raised them from the very bottom of society—people so disposable that their deaths wouldn't matter—to the lofty position they held now, with countless privileges and wealth.
So they were willing to swear loyalty unto death.
Because their lives had been given back to them by Roger.
If Roger hadn't redeemed them, they would still be running, or freezing and starving to death in the streets of the Underground.
Under Levi's unified command, they formed up behind Roger—beneath the Wall, in the very center of a broad plaza.
It looked like a lot of people, but in truth it was only a drop in the bucket for the Scorpion Corps, not worth mentioning.
Yet their combat experience represented the sharpest edge of the entire corps.
The surrounding civilians outnumbered them by dozens of times. They craned their necks, desperate to see, desperate to know what would happen.
The Garrison Regiment and the Military Police were fully deployed to maintain order.
Even so, a few people fought their way out of the crowd, rushing forward and collapsing in front of several Scorpion soldiers—drawing everyone's attention.
A single wailing cry cut through the air, and the crowd's noise died abruptly.
"Son! Come home with me!!"
An elderly woman clutched the sleeve of a young Scorpion soldier, trying to drag him out of the formation.
But her strength was too small. She couldn't budge her only son at all.
Even as he looked at his mother, the soldier didn't shed a single tear.
He stood solemnly, staring toward Roger high above.
"Go back, Mom. I won't regret this," he said. "Back then, when you were gravely ill, Leader Roger spent an enormous amount of money to send you to a hospital on the surface and cure you. He's also the one who secured our right to live on the surface. Mom—when Leader Roger came to your hospital room himself, left money behind, and offered to recruit me, I already swore in my heart that I would repay his kindness.
"You taught me that a person must have loyalty and gratitude, Mom. Have you forgotten?"
Hearing that, the mother had nothing to say—but she still couldn't bear to watch her son become a hideous Titan.
"I never taught you that! Dis, come home with me!! I will never let you become that kind of monster!! Roger is a madman!! And you—you must have caught it from him!!"
As she spoke, she collapsed in front of her son, sobbing.
Seeing that, Dis immediately bent down to help her up.
And at that moment, the veteran soldiers around him finally spoke.
"Go back, Dis. Your mother's right. You don't need to do this."
"Leave this crazy thing to us old bones."
"Yeah, Dis. You're the only son your family has. If you go, who's going to take care of your mother?"
With the older veterans urging him, Dis hesitated.
Around him, even more young men like him—bound by family—left the formation.
After all the crying and commotion, the ranks thinned dramatically. Only a scant few dozen remained standing where they were, stubbornly lifting their chins.
They were all familiar faces—some had scars across their features, some had even lost an eye.
But it was precisely those scars that proved their bravery in battle against Titans.
The time was nearly up, and the crowd started shouting again.
They pointed at the Scorpion veterans, and many even called out the crimes they'd committed in the past.
For a moment, words like "murderer" and "thief" floated up everywhere.
Not a single person called them "heroes."
"It's time," Levi said, glancing at the sky.
Then he looked toward the distant Survey Corps headquarters.
Suddenly, a surge of cheers rose from the crowd. A gap tore open as people parted, and a woman in a Survey Corps uniform stepped out.
Hange.
She had come as promised.
No one knew what her answer would be.
The crowd held its breath, waiting.
Roger also turned, looking down at Hange Zoë.
But at that moment…
A blade suddenly slid across the back of Roger's neck.
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