"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters."
"He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me."
"Your rod and Your staff, they give me breath. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows."
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for many days."
Gale, although he was a man of science, the religion that his family had instilled in him before they died now served to strengthen his will.
Today he would commit acts that no one in his previous life would have ever imagined him doing. Everyone saw Annie as a beautiful female figure, but Gale only saw an enemy.
A demon who came to his world to destroy everything, an enemy soldier who had only ever thought about killing his people. Gale did not care.
"Boss, they've brought the Titan."
Gale, who had been lost in his thoughts, raised his gaze and nodded slightly. "I'll be there in a moment."
All of this was part of his plan; his words were now taken into account in everything that was done. Of course, he had considered the consequences, but he was at war and did not care about being the most hated.
…
Inside a tent, Gale approached the crystal where Annie was and said, "It was a heavy blow the one you dealt to the walls a few months ago. Who would have thought that Marley would send children to a war they do not understand?"
"You know, I don't agree with the era of slavery that our former king imposed on all nations, but… isn't Marley now doing the same thing with the power of the Titans they have stolen?"
Gale stood in front of Annie and said, "We are, after all, human. That is our nature, and now we will do the same thing Marley did to us. I will tear the Titan power from your body, we will use it, and we will destroy all of Marley."
"Ymir, take care of it."
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Hard teeth collided against the equally hard crystal shell, leaving only a few scratches behind.
Ymir, now a Titan, was gnawing at Annie's hardened shell. She opened her enormous mouth, using both her sharp claws and her serrated teeth.
She had been working for three hours to break open Annie's crystallized shell.
So far, some results had been achieved; part of the outer layer had been removed, reducing its thickness by approximately one millimeter.
"It's useless…" Ymir complained and said, "I can't break it open by biting…"
"Is it still too hard…?" Hange frowned and touched her forehead with her index finger.
"Ymir, can't you push yourself more? The Female Titan can harden, can't you? Release your potential! Release your potential!"
"Even if I really have that potential, talking about it doesn't tell me how to activate it…" Ymir said, half amused and half exasperated.
"Where is the commander? Captain Hange, go inform him. Just tell him I can't open it with a bite."
At the same time, in the opaque tent where Dima Fritz was restrained,
The blond, smiling Titan stared at the two humans in front of her. She opened her mouth wide, like a worm trying to turn into a chrysalis, and suddenly bit down fiercely.
Her instinct drove her to devour people; her eyes were fixed solely on Gale and Eren, who stood before her.
"You must stand firm in your belief, Eren," Gale said beside him and pointed ahead. "If your father ate the King of the Walls, then you must have inherited the power of the Founding Titan."
"However, certain conditions are required to unleash the power of the Founding Titan. Only members of the royal family can use its power. The reason you saw so many strange scenes that day must be because the power of the Founding Titan within you was activated."
After saying that, Gale whispered to him, "The enemy is right in front of us. We must make sure that Dina inherits the title of the Female Titan!"
"Alright, I understand." Eren took a deep breath and stared at the giant before him.
He extended his hand and placed it on the Titan's skin, closing his eyes to recall those images.
Those bloody and horrifying scenes…
A baby crying amid flames, charred corpses, a sky covered in thick smoke, countless airships and ships…
Suddenly, Ymir, who had transformed into a Titan, and Annie, who was asleep, formed a momentary connection.
Ymir looked in a certain direction, toward a massive tent, where she knew the Titan of Dina Fritz was being held prisoner.
Something activated; she suddenly felt it, just as humans are born with the ability to breathe, she too had learned that ability.
Steam burst out from Ymir's Titan face, and her ossified shell began to grow as she evolved, transforming into the "Jaw Titan."
"H-Hey… I was just kidding…" Hange was left dumbfounded.
Intelligent Titans… are they really such evolving beings?
Hange watched expressionlessly as Ymir's body changed. She had transformed in a matter of seconds; her limbs and face were covered by a bony armor, and her muscles and jaw had become stronger than before.
Hange was so frightened that she sat down on the grass and swallowed with difficulty.
"Now I'm confident," Ymir said, now having become the ultimate version of the Jaw Titan.
At that moment, Annie, inside the crystal, also opened her eyes.
She stared wide-eyed at the Jaw Titan, and on her face could be seen the most primal of human emotions: horror.