Disaster.
An unprecedented disaster.
The people inside the Walls had just finished lunch. They were about to return to their work for the day when, all of a sudden, they saw the sky filled with countless tiny black dots flying toward them.
At first, they thought they were birds.
But when those black dots fell to the ground, they understood in an instant.
They weren't birds—
They were explosives that would steal their lives.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!
Deafening detonations shook the world. Countless homes were obliterated by shells, and countless civilians died in the fading glare of the blasts.
Some of them were old—so old they didn't even understand what was happening. All they knew was that when the shells fell nearby, flames swallowed them whole.
No one can survive unscathed inside fire.
So they burned to death—quickly.
And before dying, they screamed the names of their wives and children in despair… but their families were no better off.
The instant the shells came in, men and women rushed out of their homes. They didn't even have time to grab the money and clothing they treasured most—only to watch helplessly as their houses were leveled to the ground.
At last, the first barrage ended, and the inside of the Walls suffered horrific casualties.
Yet they still didn't understand what had happened. They only knew they were injured, and their loved ones were dead.
Now, in the whole world, they were left alone.
Dragging themselves out from the collapsed rubble, through ash that looked like the end of days, what they saw was corpses everywhere—blood flowing like rivers.
Children crying. Adults screaming. All of it blending into a single nightmare.
The sound of buildings collapsing, the thunder of shells, all tangled together—
So that, for a moment, you couldn't even tell whether you were living in the human world or in hell itself.
But there was one small mercy:
The shells had limited range. They only struck houses and streets far from the Walls, while the districts close to the Walls remained untouched.
The Walls protected them again.
Terrified crowds fled beneath the towering Walls, throwing up one makeshift shelter after another, desperate to escape the explosions.
Beneath the tall shelters, they packed together shoulder-to-shoulder, trembling as they watched their homeland turn into ruins.
Smoke and fire rose everywhere, and every person felt pure fear.
It was like the apocalypse.
The scene before them was something they had never, ever seen in their entire lives.
It was too cruel. Too inhuman.
It was even more despairing than when Titans breached the Walls—
Because this time, there was nowhere to run.
At last, the impact of the bombardment began to lessen.
The armed forces inside the Walls finally did what they were supposed to do. Once they reacted, they began organizing evacuations—moving people closer to the Walls, to areas the shells could never reach.
But they still couldn't understand why such a terrifying thing was falling from the sky.
Was it divine punishment?
What had they done wrong?
Even now, not a single person connected it to an enemy force outside Paradis Island launching a campaign of annihilation.
They still believed it was heaven punishing them.
That they must have done something wrong.
And no matter what, they could not imagine that it was because they had locked Roger away—because Paradis Island had lost the power that could protect it.
When the disaster struck, the first to truly wake up were the Survey Corps.
Their experience fighting Titans outside the Walls made them calm and steady. They analyzed the situation quickly and decided what they needed to do.
Climb the Walls and observe where the shells were coming from.
As commander of the Survey Corps, Hange led her people up the Wall immediately. Standing atop it, she scanned the horizon, trying to locate the point of origin.
But the instant she used her ODM gear to reach the top—at the instant she looked down—
She was stunned.
She had never imagined that one day there would be so many humans standing outside the Walls, packed together in endless ranks, like swarms of ants.
And among those "ants" were massive weapons—one after another—so large they made the blood run cold.
From the smoke rising out of the long, tubular barrels, Hange guessed they were siege weapons of some kind—firepower that was likely no less terrifying than the giant hammer she had once created.
"Who are they?!" someone suddenly rushed up and asked Hange.
Hange turned and saw it was the commander of the Military Police.
"I don't know," Hange said. "But they're not here with good intentions. What we should do now is find a way to communicate with them—ask why they're attacking us."
"Ask? Is that even a question? Can't you see?!" someone snapped.
At that moment, a man climbed onto the Wall and stepped into everyone's view.
Hange and the Military Police commander looked over and saw it was the commander of the Scorpion Corps—
Levi Ackerman.
Behind Levi stood a former commander of the Garrison—
Nelly Quick.
"Roger already told us. These are the world's hostile forces against Paradis Island," Levi said, looking at the two commanders in front of him. "People across the world hate those of us who can turn into Titans. They discriminate against us every day. They'd love nothing more than to see us vanish. So it's obvious where these people came from—very clearly, they've finally made up their minds. They want to erase us completely from this world."
The two commanders had heard Roger say similar things before, but back then they hadn't taken it seriously.
They still believed that even if they belonged to a race with Titan powers, the world shouldn't hate them this much.
But what they never expected was that humanity could be this brutal—
Or rather, that the humans of the outside world could be this brutal.
They no longer saw them as human.
"Th-then… if we surrender… will they spare us?" the Military Police commander suddenly blurted out, his lips trembling.
"You're welcome to try," Nelly Quick sneered. "You people who grew up on fertile soil don't understand why the world is so cruel. What, do I really have to spell it out for you? They came here to kill us. Unless they wipe every last one of us out, they will never stop!"
"Then what do you think we should do?" the Military Police commander snapped back immediately, stung by the mockery.
Nelly Quick smiled again.
"What do you think?"
"Of course we bring Roger out."
"Or do you idiots truly believe you're capable of handling this?"
"A pack of stupid dogs!"
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