Torchlight illuminated the scene as, under everyone's watchful eyes, Eren inserted the key his father had left him into the already somewhat rusted keyhole.
Just as everyone held their breath waiting for Eren to open the basement, something awkward happened. Eren twisted the key—only to find it wouldn't turn at all.
"Th-This… what's going on? Why won't it open?" Eren said in disbelief, then twisted the key even harder.
Crack! A crisp snapping sound rang out—the key broke cleanly into two pieces.
Eren's eyes went wide as he pinched the broken half of the key. "It… it broke?"
Levi couldn't stand watching anymore. He released the arms he'd been crossing, shoved aside the dazed Eren, and said,
"Move. What a hassle." With that, Levi lifted his leg and kicked hard at the wooden door.
When Eren came back to his senses, all he saw was Levi raising his foot to kick the door. Suddenly remembering something, Eren shouted anxiously,
"Squad Leader! Wait, don't—! Behind the door is—" But he didn't finish in time.
Bang!! Wood chips flew everywhere as Levi shattered the wooden door with a single kick, revealing what lay behind it—
"…a steel plate," Eren said weakly.
Levi silently withdrew his leg, his gaze colder than ever before, and turned his head toward Eren.
Under that stare, Eren felt his scalp prickle and hurried to explain,
"Squad Leader, when I was little, Yago came over to my house to play. He accidentally broke our wooden door, so my dad added an extra steel plate to all the doors in our house."
As he spoke, Eren looked toward Mikasa and Armin, as if asking them to confirm it. The two nodded cooperatively—because Yago really had done that.
Standing at the very back of the group, slacking off, Yago stared in shock. Wh—why is this suddenly coming back to me?! But the next moment, Yago felt Levi's deathly glare lock onto him.
Left with no choice, Yago cleared his throat tactically, walked up to the wooden—no, steel—door, raised his hand, and let his fingernails cut into his palm. A yellow electric arc instantly enveloped Yago's right hand.
"Everyone, get back!" Yago roared, then slammed his fist down hard onto the steel door.
In an instant, steam flooded the passageway before the basement. "Boom!!" A heavy impact echoed, followed by the teeth-grinding sound of metal deforming.
When the steam dispersed, everyone saw the steel door crushed and twisted wide open—and at Yago's feet, a Titan arm that was rapidly evaporating.
Yago pulled his arm free from the mass of flesh and blood, then turned around to find everyone staring straight at him.
"Wh-Why are you all looking at me? The door's open, isn't it…?" Yago asked, confused.
Eren was a little stunned that Yago could use Titan power with such precision.
Historia, with Ymir's arm around her neck, was also surprised. Ever since gaining Titan power herself, Historia understood how incredibly difficult it was to control such overwhelming strength.
Levi: "You brat—turning into a Titan this recklessly?"
Yago: "Relax, Squad Leader. I've got it under control. Didn't it work out just fine?"
Hange ran over to Yago's Titan arm, touching and prodding it excitedly.
"Wow, it's completely different from Eren's! It's not especially hot—if anything, it feels really solid and heavy!"
Seeing Hange about to treat that arm like a prime cut of pork, Erwin finally spoke up to remind her,
"Hange, focus on the task at hand!"
"Okay~" Hange said with some regret, then turned to Yago with renewed excitement. "Yago, when we get back, you have to cooperate with me for some new experiments!"
Yago: "...…."
Everyone soon followed Eren into the basement. Before leaving, Levi even turned back to glare at Yago one last time—though his walking posture looked slightly strange.
...
After everyone had gone inside, Yago stayed where he was. Annie noticed and stopped as well, turning back to walk up to him. She tugged on Yago's clothes, her pale blue eyes fixed on him.
"Why are you just standing here?"
Yago frowned, thinking of something, and said to Annie,
"Annie, I just remembered something really important. Will you come with me?"
Annie, of course, didn't refuse. She nodded. Yago hurried into the basement to report to Erwin. In the dimly lit basement, Eren was holding a book, lost in thought—more precisely, staring at the photograph inside it. In the photo were his father, a strange woman, and a child.
Yago knew what Eren was seeing, and he also knew what secret Doctor Grisha had left behind. It was time for Eren to face everything his father had left him.
...
Yago brought Annie to the logistics unit and shouted urgently,
"Scott! Uncle Scott! Where are you? Help us out—we're out of gas!"
Yago called out Scott's name, but he didn't notice the gloomy expressions on the logistics soldiers' faces. At that moment, a brownish-red-haired soldier carrying gas canisters walked up to them.
"You are… Floch?" Yago recognized him. Floch looked up, seemingly surprised that Yago knew him, but quickly put on a cold expression and refilled the gas canisters for Yago and Annie.
As Yago watched Floch work, he looked around and didn't see Scott anywhere. Smiling, he asked,
"Where's your Squad Leader Scott? Did he sneak off to eat something good again?"
Floch's hand on the valve jerked, and some gas sprayed out. After a long pause, Floch said in a low voice, "Squad Leader Scott… was killed."
Yago's smile froze. "Y-You said what? Uncle Scott, he… he was killed?"
Floch tightened the valve with trembling hands and replied, filled with guilt,
"Yes. The Squad Leader was killed. He was grabbed by a Titan while saving me. It's all my fault… I was useless."
"How could that be? Uncle Scott… how could he die? Didn't he say he'd invite me to his wedding? How could he be killed?" Yago murmured.
Scott was one of the earliest seniors Yago had known. When Yago was first picked up outside the walls by the Survey Corps, it was Scott who had taken care of him. Even later, when Yago joined the training corps, he had hitched rides on Scott's wagon to enter Wall Sheena.
After joining the Survey Corps, Yago grew even closer to Scott. Before the battle to retake Wall Maria, Scott had even said that when he got married, Yago had to come. In Yago's heart, Scott was already like half a mentor.
Yago clenched his fist tightly, a faint red light flashing in his pupils. "Zeke!!"
"Yago, calm down." Seeing blood seep from Yago's clenched fist, Annie grew very worried and quickly covered his fist with both hands.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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