Chapter 140: Floch Lays Kyubey's Intel on the Table! Eren's Fury!
Paradis Island, Shiganshina District, Temporary Operations Room.
Commander Erwin sat at the head of the table. Captain Levi stood at the window, arms crossed, the line of his jaw hard and cold. Hange leaned over the table, gloved fingertips prodding the blood-stained "foreign objects."
Eren Jaeger's face was ashen, radiating a low-pressure aura, and he hadn't said a word. Armin and Mikasa stood behind him, their expressions a mixture of worry and confusion.
In the center of the room was Floch Forster. His deep red, bizarre Magical Girl dress looked completely out of place in the solemn atmosphere. He had just finished his debriefing. The intelligence, bought with the lives of his comrades, had sent shockwaves through everyone present.
Hange's breathing was heavy. She picked up a small metal component, then glanced at a blurry photograph. "This isn't a drawing—" The photo seemed to be of a massive steel construct. "These civilian-grade industrial parts… this level of precision…" Her eyes shone with an astonished light. "And this pocket watch, the gear structure inside… this simple factory diagram, it's crude, but the production logic—"
"Trains… airships—" Hange snapped her head up, looking at Erwin. "Commander, these things—the production capacity they represent, the level of craftsmanship… it's far beyond anything we know! If this is just their civilian-grade technology—"
She didn't need to finish. Everyone in the room understood the weight of her words.
"You were exposed." Levi's cold voice broke the silence. He was still looking out the window, but his words were directed at Floch. "The enemy knows we sent scouts. How much time do you think they'll give us?" It was a cold statement, not a question. The more valuable the intel, the closer the danger.
"And…" Armin took a deep breath, his voice trembling slightly, "it's obvious Kyubey is working with them. But—" He forced himself to analyze, trying to suppress his anxiety. "Floch was able to return, which means Kyubey allowed him to. At the very least, Kyubey probably isn't firmly on Marley's side."
The air in the room grew heavier. A faint glimmer of hope and a deep shadow of despair fell over everyone.
Erwin's fingers tapped a steady rhythm on the table. His gaze shifted to Floch, his brow furrowing slightly at the garish outfit. "Floch." Erwin intended to bypass Eren and ask Floch directly. "This… appearance of yours. How did you do it? And what is the price?"
The tension in the room snapped.
Eren's head shot up, his eyes blazing with a fierce warning, locked on Floch. Don't you dare say it.
Floch felt the killing intent. He lowered his head, the hem of his red skirt trembling. The faces of his dying comrades flashed before his eyes. Their roars, their hopes, their… This is no time to worry about Eren's personal feelings. For the future of Paradis Island, anyone, any secret, must be put on the scales. Eren… your secret is no exception!
He ignored Eren's gaze, took a deep breath, and spoke. "To get this power, you have to make a—"
"SHUT UP!"
Eren's figure exploded forward, a streak of green light aiming straight for the dark red Soul Gem on Floch's chest. His speed was at its absolute limit.
Floch's pupils contracted. Life and death in an instant. His body reacted before his mind.
"—wish!" he screamed, finishing his sentence as he threw himself back.
"A wish!"
"Magical Girl!"
"WITCHIFICATION!!!"
The scream and the sound of tearing flesh were almost simultaneous. SHIING!
With superhuman instinct, Floch had sacrificed half his body to narrowly avoid a direct hit to his Soul Gem. A large chunk of his red dress, along with the flesh and tissue beneath it, was vaporized by Eren's attack. Blood sprayed, staining the floor. Floch's body collapsed like a felled tree.
But the key pieces of information, delivered with his bloody shout, now echoed in the room.
"Floch!" Armin and Mikasa cried out.
Eren, his attack having only partially landed, stared at Floch's mutilated body, his rage and killing intent still burning. But he knew the critical intel was out. With those words, Erwin, Hange, and Armin could deduce most of it. Killing Floch now was pointless. But the rage in his chest, the anxiety and helplessness of losing control, needed an outlet.
"You bastard!!" Eren roared, no longer using magic, and lunged at the dying Floch. Fists and feet began to fall. THUD! THUD! THUD! Every blow landed with vicious force on Floch's ruined body.
"Eren, stop!"
"Eren! Calm down!"
Mikasa and Armin rushed forward, one grabbing his waist, the other pulling his arm, trying to stop him. "You'll kill him, Eren!" Armin yelled frantically.
Hange and Levi also moved in. Hange pulled the twitching Floch away, while Levi stepped in front of Eren. "Have you lost your mind, you damn brat?!"
Hange looked at Floch's gruesome state—he was basically just an upper torso, bleeding profusely—and assumed he was a goner.
Floch, curled on the floor, coughed up blood but managed a grim, bloody smile. "Heh heh… I'm… I'm still alive…" He knew he had won his gamble. As long as he got the key intel out, he wouldn't really be killed. He was still useful to Paradis. He was still useful to Eren. His life still had meaning.
Eren, restrained by Mikasa and Armin, his chest heaving, slowly calmed down. The fire in his eyes was replaced by a deep weariness.
Seeing this, Floch painfully raised his one remaining hand and pressed it to his ruined chest. Dark red magic flowed from his Soul Gem, enveloping his mangled body. In a sight that defied all logic, his horrific wounds began to writhe and heal. New flesh, bone, and organs regenerated. His severed spine reconnected, his torn lung reinflated. The lower half of his body, which had been vaporized, slowly began to "regrow" under the crimson light.
His Soul Gem, in turn, gained another layer of darkness.
"That's… that's—" Hange's eyes were wide, her shock absolute. She forgot to even check Floch's wounds, transfixed by the impossible scene. "His body was cut in half… and he can still live? This doesn't look like Titan regeneration!" She suddenly remembered Eren's fight with Zeke—he had precisely targeted the gem. "Of course… when Eren attacked Zeke, his target was the gem… As long as the gem isn't broken, the person can't die?"
Hange's breathing quickened, her desire to study this unknown power surging wildly.
A few minutes later, Floch was whole again, though his red dress was soaked in dried and fresh blood. He was pale from the blood loss and magic expenditure. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself and looked at the complex expressions of the people around him. "As you can see… this is part of this power."
He paused, then began to report the detailed intel he had pieced together from the "Magical Girl New Star Report" in Marley and his own deductions. He laid it all out: Kyubey, wishes, Magical Girl abilities, and the final fate of becoming a Witch.
"—Marley's propaganda calls that final form 'the ultimate devotion to the Empire.' Ordinary people can get their wishes granted… After becoming a Magical Girl, you can keep fighting for Marley… After 'Witchification,' your power becomes terrifying, but you completely lose yourself and become a monster that attacks indiscriminately…"
"Marley didn't directly wish to conquer the world," Hange keenly picked up on this key point, looking at Armin. "Or rather, they did, and it didn't work."
Armin nodded. "That might mean the wish itself isn't all-powerful. There might be a limit, or a price that even they can't bear."
"Gaining miraculous power through a 'wish'…" Hange analyzed, her voice growing heavier, "if this power is used to improve production and acquire resources… and after becoming a 'Magical Girl,' as long as the Soul Gem is intact, you can keep fighting… and the final 'Witchification,' though you lose yourself, creates a terrifying strategic weapon…"
Everyone finally understood why Eren had reacted so violently. This power… this temptation… was the price just to eventually lose control and become a monster? In this cruel world, where life was cheap and survival was a daily struggle, such a "price" would look like "salvation" to many desperate people.
No wonder Eren didn't want them to know. If this secret got out, how many of them, to gain a miracle and the power to fight back, would throw themselves at Kyubey? For the future of Paradis, every person Eren cared about might be forced to become a Magical Girl, and all would eventually meet the fate of a Witch. No wonder Marley, after learning the truth, had immediately partnered with Kyubey to mass-produce them. All they needed was the "sacrifice" of individuals, using their souls to forge the blades of the Marleyan Empire.
Commander Erwin, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke, his voice calm. "Eren, I understand your concern. But… is a price like that… really enough to make you lose your composure?"
"Every soldier in the Survey Corps is already prepared to dedicate their heart for the future of the Walls. If 'Witchification' can buy us victory, then it is just another form of 'dedicating your heart'."
Erwin's tone was placid, but held a chillingly logical edge. In his view, Eren's previous actions had been "overly emotional." The intel was on the table. The priority now was how to deal with the unfathomable entity, "Kyubey."
Armin and Hange exchanged a look. "Since Kyubey made a contract with Floch and let him return with the intel," Armin ventured, "does that mean it isn't completely on Marley's side? Do we still have a chance to 'cooperate' with Kyubey, or at least… talk to it?"