Hello, Drinor here. I'm happy to publish a new Chapter of Attack on Titan: A Warrior of Devils
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Chapter 30 and Chapter 31 are already available for Patrons.
The Forest of Giant Trees stood silent except for the occasional creak of wood and the labored breathing of twenty-seven Survey Corps soldiers scattered throughout the clearing. At the center of their formation, the Female Titan hung motionless, suspended by dozens of steel cables that bit deep into her flesh. Steam rose from her wounds in lazy spirals, but her crystalline blue eyes remained alert, tracking the movements of her captors with an intelligence that made several soldiers shift uncomfortably.
Commander Erwin Smith stood on a thick branch fifteen meters above the forest floor, his weathered hands clasped behind his back as he surveyed their prize. The late afternoon sun filtered through the canopy, casting shifting patterns of light and shadow across the Titan's blonde hair. Victory should have felt sweeter than this.
Captain Levi landed silently on the branch beside him, his steel-gray eyes fixed on the captured creature below. "The situation changed during the pursuit," he said without preamble, his voice carrying its usual flat tone. "She stopped killing soldiers."
Erwin's eyebrows rose slightly. "Stopped killing them?"
"Grabbed them out of the air, destroyed their gear, tossed them aside like broken toys." Levi's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. "But she left them breathing."
Squad Leader Mike Zacharius swung onto their branch from the opposite side, his tall frame making the wood groan under the additional weight. "That doesn't make sense," he said, his deep voice rumbling with confusion. "She slaughtered everyone else who got in her way before entering the forest. Why show mercy now?"
Levi's laugh was bitter and sharp. "Maybe she's got a piece of humanity left in that oversized skull of hers." The sarcasm in his voice made it clear he believed no such thing. "Or maybe she just didn't want to waste energy on insects when she had a specific target in mind."
"How many casualties?" Erwin asked quietly.
Hange Zoë swung into view. "The right wing formations are decimated. Southern Group lost everyone except Captain Doun." She gestured toward the forest floor, where a blood-stained soldier stood glaring up at the Female Titan with hatred.
Levi followed her gaze. "How the hell did Doun survive when no one else from his squad did?"
Erwin's expression shifted, a knowing look crossing his features. "According to Doun's report, he was seconds away from being crushed when another soldier intervened. Saved his life and told him to report directly to me."
"Another soldier?" Mike frowned. "From which squad?"
"That's the interesting part," Erwin continued. "Doun said his rescuer was short, moved like lightning with his ODM gear. For a moment, he thought it was you, Levi."
The silence that followed was deafening. Levi's hands clenched into fists, his knuckles white against the darker leather of his gloves. "The brat," he said quietly.
"That would be my assessment as well," Erwin confirmed.
Mike looked between them. "The Prodigy recruit? But if he engaged the Female Titan and she made it here..." He didn't finish the sentence, but they all understood the implication.
Levi's gray eyes hardened to steel. The thought of losing another promising soldier—especially one who reminded him so much of his own past—sent a cold fury through his veins. But he kept his composure, years of military discipline overriding personal concern. "If he's dead, then he died doing his duty," he said.
"We'll search for survivors after we deal with our current problem," Erwin said, his voice carrying the authority of command. He gestured toward the suspended Titan. "Right now, we have more pressing concerns."
The Female Titan's head turned slightly, her enormous eyes focusing on Erwin. There was something almost human in that gaze.
"She's been watching us," Hange observed, her scientific curiosity overriding her caution. "Look at the way she tracks our movements. She's listening to every word."
"Good," Levi said coldly. "Then she knows what's coming."
Erwin raised his hand, and the entire clearing fell silent. Every soldier understood the signal. This was the moment they'd been working toward—the chance to finally unmask one of humanity's greatest threats.
"Now," Erwin commanded.
Levi and Mike moved as one, their ODM gear hissing as they launched themselves from opposite directions toward the Female Titan's nape. Their blades gleamed in the dappled sunlight, twin streaks of death aimed at the one spot that would end this nightmare.
But as their steel met flesh, something extraordinary happened.
The hands covering the nape crystallized completely, transforming from vulnerable skin into what looked like transparent crystal. The blades struck with the full force of their momentum and shattered like glass against an anvil, sending razor-sharp fragments spinning through the air.
"What the—" Mike grunted, pulling back sharply as his broken blade handle sparked uselessly against the crystalline surface.
Levi twisted away, his expression darkening as he landed on a nearby tree trunk. "Tch." The sound was filled with disgust and frustration.
The crystal coating disappeared as quickly as it had formed, leaving the Female Titan's hands looking exactly as they had moments before.
"Fascinating!" Hange's voice cut through the tension. "Did you see how quickly that crystallization formed and dissolved? It's like she can harden specific parts of her body at will!"
"We saw it," Levi said dryly, examining the remains of his shattered blade. "More importantly, we felt it. That wasn't just hard—it was like trying to cut through solid rock."
A young soldier on a lower branch called out nervously, "Captain Levi, should we try a different approach? Maybe if we attack from multiple angles—"
"With what blades?" Levi interrupted, holding up his broken weapon. "Unless you've got a forge hidden in your pocket, we're already down two sets of cutting edges."
Hange was studying the Female Titan intently. "Notice how she only used the crystallization when you were actively attacking. She's not maintaining it constantly."
"Your point?" Mike asked, checking his own damaged equipment.
"Energy expenditure," Hange said, excitement growing in her voice. "If she could keep that crystal armor active all the time, why wouldn't she? The fact that she only uses it defensively suggests it requires significant effort to maintain and it tires her."
Erwin nodded slowly, following her logic. "You're suggesting we could exhaust her."
"Exactly! We keep attacking, force her to crystallize repeatedly. Eventually, she'll tire herself out and—"
"And run out of blades long before she runs out of energy," Levi finished grimly. He gestured to the soldiers around them. "Look around, Hange. How many spare blade sets do you count? Because I'm seeing maybe thirty sets total, and that's being generous."
A veteran soldier from the middle ranks spoke up. "Why don't we just wait her out? She can't stay in that form forever. Eventually, she'll have to come out."
Hange shook her head vigorously. "We tried that approach with Eren just last week during his control exercises. Five straight hours of doing nothing in his Titan form before he finally collapsed from exhaustion, and he's still learning how to maintain his Titan form."
She pointed at the Female Titan, whose eyes continued to track their conversation with unnerving intelligence. "This one clearly has years of experience. The precision of her movements, the way she conserved energy during combat, her strategic thinking—she's a veteran shifter."
"How long are we talking?" Erwin asked quietly.
"Conservative estimate? One whole day, possibly more." Hange's expression grew troubled. "And that's assuming she doesn't have ways to maintain her form that we don't know about yet."
"We don't have a whole day," Mike said, what everyone was thinking. "The longer we stay out here, the more likely we are to attract every Titan within a fifty-kilometer radius."
Armin and Jean
The ancient oak's highest branches swayed gently in the afternoon breeze, providing Jean and Armin with a commanding view of the forest's outer perimeter. Twenty-five meters below, the forest floor lay shrouded in shadow. The distant sounds of the capture operation had faded to an eerie silence, broken only by the whisper of wind through leaves.
Jean sat with his back against the massive trunk, one leg dangling over the edge of their branch while he absently cleaned blood from his blade. The events of the day had blurred together into a nightmare of teeth, claws, and screaming.
"How many do you think we lost?" he asked quietly, not looking up from his weapon.
Armin perched on a parallel branch. "Too many," Armin replied. "The right wing formations were decimated. Southern Group, Eastern Support..." He trailed off, unable to finish the grim accounting.
"That sound we heard earlier," Jean continued, "the loud banging. Sounded like artillery being fired in rapid succession."
"Cannons, you think? But they'd never bring siege equipment into terrain like this."
"Then what?" Jean gestured toward the forest's heart, where the sounds had originated. "Because that wasn't normal combat."
"Specialized equipment," Armin concluded slowly. "Something designed specifically for this mission." He closed his notebook with a sharp snap. "Jean, I think the entire expedition was a trap. Not for Titans—for someone specific."
Jean's cleaning motion stopped. "The Female Titan."
"Exactly." Armin said. "Think about it. The formation, the route through this specific forest, the way certain squads were positioned... Commander Erwin knew she was coming."
"But how could he—" Jean's face went pale as the implications hit him. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"That Titan wasn't like the others. The way she moved, the intelligence in her actions, her specific targeting..." Armin met Jean's horrified stare. "She's like Eren. A human who can transform."
Jean felt his stomach drop as the full scope of their situation became clear. "There are people working with the Titans. People from inside the walls."
"It would explain everything. The breach at Trost, the attack on Wall Rose, how they always seem to know exactly where to strike for maximum damage." Armin's analytical mind was already working through the connections. "Someone's been feeding them information."
Jean stood abruptly, pacing along the thick branch with barely controlled agitation. "So Commander Erwin's plan was to sacrifice hundreds of Survey Corps soldiers to catch one traitor? Even if it worked, the cost..." He turned to face Armin, anger flashing in his eyes. "A hundred good people died today for a plan we knew nothing about!"
"You think Commander Erwin wanted those casualties?" Armin's voice sharpened. "You think he enjoyed sending soldiers to their deaths?"
"I think he could have found another way!"
"What other way?" Armin stood as well. "Put yourself in his position, Jean. Before this expedition, what did he know for certain? That there are shifters working against humanity. That they've infiltrated our ranks. That they murdered Hange's test subjects and stole crucial research."
Jean opened his mouth to argue, but Armin pressed on.
"He doesn't know who to trust. Anyone could be a spy. Anyone could be working for the enemy. Time doesn't stop for moral quandaries—every day he delays, more people die. More walls fall. More of humanity gets wiped out."
"So he gambles with our lives instead?"
"He made the hardest decision a commander can make!" Armin's voice cracked with emotion. "Risk the lives of hundreds for a chance—just a chance—to save thousands. Maybe tens of thousands. Do you think that was easy for him?"
Jean fell silent, his anger warring with the logic of Armin's words. The weight of command was something he'd never truly considered, the impossible choices that came with responsibility for humanity's survival.
"It's easy for us to judge," Armin continued more quietly. "We know things now that he didn't know then. We've seen the Female Titan's capabilities. But when he made this plan, all he had were theories and desperate hope."
A long silence stretched between them, filled only by the sound of wind through leaves. Finally, Jean spoke again, his voice subdued. "That shout you made during the fight. When you told her that 'Shorty' was dead."
Armin's hand froze completely.
"The Female Titan... she reacted. Not like a mindless monster hearing random noise. She reacted like..." Jean's eyes narrowed as he studied his friend's face. "Like she knew who you were talking about."
"The battlefield was chaotic. You might have misinterpreted—"
"Don't." Jean's voice cut through the excuse. "I saw her face, Armin. That Titan knew exactly who 'Shorty' was. And you knew she would know."
Armin's shoulders sagged slightly, the weight of his suspicions finally showing. "I had a theory. About her identity. The timing of the shout was meant to test that theory."
"And?"
"And I was right." The words came out barely above a whisper. "She froze completely when she thought Jaime was dead. A mindless Titan doesn't mourn."
Jean stared at his friend, pieces of a horrifying puzzle clicking into place. "You know who she is."
"I think I know. I hope I'm wrong, but..." Armin's voice was heavy with dread. "The way she spared you and Reiner when she could have killed you both. The way she reacted to Jaime's supposed death."
"Who?" Jean demanded. "Who is she?"
Armin was quiet for a long moment, staring out into the forest where their friends and comrades continued their dangerous mission. When he finally spoke, his voice was filled with the kind of certainty that comes with terrible knowledge.
"Someone we trained with. Someone we trusted. Someone who..." He paused, struggling with the words.
"Armin." Jean's voice was deadly serious. "Tell me who you think it is."
The blonde boy took a shaky breath, his analytical mind warring with his desperate hope to be wrong. In the distance, they could hear the sounds of the forest. Normal sounds from a world that no longer felt normal.
"I think," Armin said slowly, each word carefully measured, "that the Female Titan is..."
Levi Squad
The horses' hooves drummed against the forest floor in a steady rhythm as Levi Squad moved through the towering trees, putting distance between themselves and the capture site.
Eren rode in the center of their formation, his green cloak billowing behind him as he struggled to contain his frustration. Around him, his squadmates maintained their protective formation, but he could see the tension in their postures, the way their eyes kept darting back toward the forest's heart.
"I don't understand," Eren finally burst out, unable to keep his thoughts contained any longer. "Why weren't any of you told about the real plan?"
Petra glanced at him from her position on his left flank. "Eren, you should focus on—"
"No, listen to me!" Eren's voice carried a note of desperation. "I get why they didn't tell me. I'm still a rookie, barely a month in the Survey Corps. But you guys? You're Captain Levi's handpicked squad! You've been fighting Titans for years!"
Oluo's face darkened, his jaw clenching as he bit down harder on his tongue in agitation. "Shut up, brat," he snapped. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't I?" Eren pressed. "If Captain Levi couldn't trust his own squad with the truth, then who could he trust? What does that say about—"
"It says Captain Levi follows orders!" Petra's voice was sharper than usual. "Commander Erwin makes the strategic decisions, not us!"
Gunther Schultz rode slightly ahead, his scarred face grim as he listened to the argument brewing behind him. "The kid's got a point though," he said quietly. "We've bled for this cause. We've earned the right to know what we're fighting for."
"Earned the right?" Oluo's voice rose dangerously. "We're soldiers, not politicians! We follow orders and complete missions! That's how the Survey Corps works!"
"Is it though?" Eren shot back. "Because it feels like we're just chess pieces being moved around a board by people who don't trust us enough to tell us the game we're playing!"
"Enough!" Eld Jinn's commanding voice cut through the heated exchange. The squad's second-in-command had been riding in thoughtful silence, but now he pulled his horse to a stop, forcing the others to halt as well. "All of you, calm down and think for a moment."
The horses stamped and snorted, sensing their riders' agitation.
"The Colossal Titan attacked Wall Maria five years ago," he said calmly. "That was when everything changed. When the enemy first revealed they could breach our defenses."
Petra frowned. "What does that have to do with—"
"It has everything to do with it," Eld interrupted. "Think about the chaos that followed. Refugees flooding into Wall Rose. The perfect cover for infiltration."
Gunther was the first to voice what they were all thinking.
"You're saying the enemy has spies in our ranks."
"I'm saying Commander Erwin believes they do," Eld corrected. "And if that's true, then anyone who joined the military during or after the Wall Maria incident could potentially be suspect."
Eren felt his blood run cold. "But that would mean—"
"That would mean Commander Erwin only trusted soldiers who were already serving before the breach," Petra finished, understanding dawning in her voice. "People who couldn't have been planted by the enemy."
Eren, who seemed to understand, looked at the Levi Squad. "How long since you joined the Survey Corps?"
"I joined three years ago," Eld said quietly.
"Four for me," Gunther added.
"Three here," Petra whispered.
"Three years," Oluo said, his voice subdued.
Eren could understand now why Levi Squad was kept in the dark.
"Wait," Petra said suddenly, her eyes widening with realization. "Do you remember what Commander Erwin asked us? Five days before the expedition?"
Eren's brow furrowed. "Asked us what?"
"He pulled each of us aside individually," Eld explained. "Asked us a simple question: 'Who do you think is the enemy?'"
"I said the Titans," Gunther recalled. "Seemed obvious at the time."
"Same here," Petra nodded. "I couldn't imagine what else he meant."
Oluo's face had gone pale. "I said... I said the bastards who control the Titans. But I meant it metaphorically, like fate or God or something. Not actual people."
"And I said the ignorance and fear that keeps humanity trapped behind the walls," Eld added.
Eren shifted uncomfortably in his saddle. "He asked me too, but... I started mumbling something. He cut me off and told me to ignore the question, said it was weird of him to ask."
Eld's expression grew thoughtful. "Don't you see? We all gave the wrong answers. If any of us had said 'humanity' or 'people from within the walls,' we would have been included in the plan. Commander Erwin was looking for someone who already suspected the truth about human enemies."
"We failed the test," Petra said quietly. "We proved we had no idea there were traitors among us."
"Which means," Oluo said slowly, his voice heavy with realization, "that he couldn't trust us with the truth. Not because we might be spies, but because we were too naive to handle the reality of what we were facing."
"And Eren," Gunther added, glancing at the younger soldier, "you didn't even give a clear answer. Commander Erwin probably thought you were either too confused or too dangerous to involve."
Eren was quiet for a moment, processing everything he'd learned. "I still think you should have been told," he said finally. "You've proven your loyalty a hundred times over. You deserve better than—"
A scream cut through the forest air—a sound unlike anything they'd ever heard from a Titan. It was raw, desperate, filled with an almost human agony that made their horses shy and whinny in fear.
"What the hell was that?" Gunther breathed, his hand moving instinctively to his blade handle.
The scream echoed through the trees for several long seconds before fading into an ominous silence. Every member of the squad was on high alert, eyes scanning the shadows between the massive trunks for any sign of movement.
"That came from the center," Petra said, her voice tight with worry. "From where they captured the Female Titan."
Eld looked at his squadmates and Eren. "Our orders haven't changed. We protect Eren and stay away from the capture site."
"But what if something went wrong?" Eren protested. "What if Captain Levi and the others need help?"
"Then they'll signal for reinforcements," Eld replied firmly. "Until then, we follow orders."
They rode in tense silence for several seconds, every shadow potentially hiding a threat, every sound making them jump.
Then they heard it—the unmistakable thunder of massive footsteps somewhere in the distance.
"Those footsteps," Gunther said quietly. "They are Titans."
"Moving toward the center," Petra observed. "But we can't see anything through these trees."
The footsteps continued for four minutes before gradually fading away, leaving them in an even more oppressive silence. When they finally heard the sharp crack of multiple signal flares being fired simultaneously, the entire squad exhaled in collective relief.
"Grey smoke," Eld observed, watching the signals arc through the sky. "Mission successful."
"Thank God," Petra breathed. "For a moment there, I thought—"
"Don't jinx it," Oluo interrupted, though his own relief was evident. "Let's just get to the extraction point and get out of this forest."
As they began to relax, guiding their horses toward the forest's edge, Petra turned to Eren with a small smile. "Thank you, Eren."
"For what?" he asked, genuinely confused.
"For trusting us back there. When you had the choice between transforming and relying on your comrades, you chose to trust us. That means you consider us your friends, not just your guards."
Oluo snorted in annoyance. "Don't go getting all sentimental on the brat, Petra. You'll make his head swell bigger than it already is."
"Oh, shut up," Petra shot back. "I was just trying to—"
Gunther laughed, the tension of the day finally beginning to lift. "You two have come a long way since your first expedition. Remember how you both pissed yourselves when that Aberrant charged our formation?"
"Gunther!" Petra's face went bright red. "Don't tell him that! Eren will never respect us again!"
Eren blinked in confusion. "Wait, really, did it all rain down, I thought you said—"
The entire squad burst into laughter at his innocent misunderstanding, the sound carrying through the trees like a release of pent-up pressure. For the first time since the expedition began, they felt like a team again.
But their relief was short-lived. Eld spotted something.
"Green flare," he said quietly, pointing through the trees. "Close. That has to be from Captain Levi."
They knew this meant that Captain Levi was nearby, as they were making their way towards the flare. After one minute of riding, something else happened.
A brilliant flash of golden lightning split the sky, striking at the exact location where the flare had originated. The familiar crack of thunder that accompanied Titan's transformation echoed through the forest, a sound they'd witnessed countless times during Eren's training sessions.
"Someone just transformed," Eld said grimly, all trace of their earlier relief vanishing. "Right where that flare came from."
"Captain Levi can't transform. Which means—"
"Someone else can," Eld finished. "And they are right where our captain is."
"Move! Switch to ODM Gear," Eld barked. "We need to reach the extraction point immediately!"
Jaime
High above the forest floor, Jaime perched on a thick branch twenty meters from the ground, his purple eyes locked on the Female Titan standing below.
The green smoke from her flare gun still drifted through the air above them both—her signal, not his. A calculated move to draw Eren's protectors to this location, knowing they would mistake it for Captain Levi's call.
Her blue eyes found his. Even in her Titan form, even after everything that had happened between them, Annie still looked at her with the same eyes she always did when they were alone. But there was no surrender in her expression.
Only sadness and unshakeable determination.
"So this is your answer," Jaime said quietly.
She had chosen her path, and nothing—not their love, not their shared memories, not even the possibility of a different future—would change her mind.
What stood before him now was a threat to everything he'd sworn to protect.
To Eren. To humanity's last hope.
His hand moved to his remaining blades, fingers closing around the familiar weight of the handles. Four blades left.
"I'm sorry, Annie. But I cannot let the last hope of Humanity to be taken away."
If you want to Read the Following TWO Chapters, Write 'Patreon.com/Drinor' on Websearch