---
The world had devolved into a frantic, desperate chase. The Scout Regiment, what was left of it, was in shambles. The air was thick with the smell of blood, Titan steam, and the bitter taste of failure. Their ace, their god of light, had been captured.
Mikasa spurred her horse onward, her face a mask of pure, silent rage. Her dark eyes were locked on the spot in the forest where the Female Titan had disappeared, a spot that felt like a gaping wound in the world. She was a taut bowstring, ready to fire herself into the heart of that forest and either rescue him or die trying.
"Ackerman! Hold!"
A horse pulled alongside hers, and a cold, authoritative voice cut through her single-minded fury. Captain Levi's face was grim, his eyes hard as flint. He knew that look. It was the look of a soldier about to throw their life away for nothing. He reached out, his grip like iron, and snatched the reins of her horse, forcing her to a halt.
"Let go of me!" she snarled, her hand flying to the hilt of her blade.
"Don't be a fool," he snapped, his voice sharp and cutting. "Charging in there alone is suicide. You'll be dead before you even find him. Look around you! Your comrades are terrified, the formation is broken. Your personal feelings don't matter right now."
"He's not just a feeling, he's—"
"He's a soldier," Levi interrupted, his voice dangerously low. "And so are you. We fall back, we regroup, and we make a plan to get our weapon back. We don't throw more lives into the meat grinder because our emotions are running high. That's an order, Ackerman. Are you going to disobey me?"
For a moment, Mikasa's glare was so intense it felt like she might try to cut him down right there. The desire to defy him, to chase after the faint flicker of Akira's Ki she could still feel, was a physical fire in her chest. But the cold logic of his words, the undeniable authority in his voice, doused the flames. She hated it. She hated him for being right. With a choked sob of pure frustration, she pulled back on her reins, her knuckles white.
They would get him back. She would tear the world apart to make sure of it.
---
Deep within the Forest of Giant Trees, the air was still and green. Annie, her human form trembling with adrenaline and emotional exhaustion, gently laid Akira's unconscious body on a bed of soft moss. He was so still, so fragile. The only signs of life were the shallow rise and fall of his chest and the faint, flickering flame of his Ki that she could feel, a tiny light in a sea of darkness.
She knelt beside him, her mission objective complete, yet her heart a shattered mess. With a piece of her own cloak, she began to gently clean the blood and grime from his face. His handsome features, usually so full of life and sarcastic fire, were pale and slack. She traced the angry red mark over his eye, her touch feather-light.
"You idiot..." she whispered, her voice cracking. "You absolute idiot... Why did you have to interfere? Why couldn't you just stay in the wagon?" Her words were angry, a desperate attempt to shield herself from the guilt that was crushing her. "I didn't want to fight you... I never wanted to fight you..."
"Then you shouldn't have."
The voice made her jump. Reiner and Bertholdt emerged from the trees, their faces grim. Reiner's eyes immediately fell on Akira's still form, and his expression hardened into one of cold, military logic.
"He's too dangerous, Annie," the blond warrior said, his voice low and serious. "He's a monster we don't understand. A power that could ruin everything for Marley. We have to kill him now, while we have the chance. It's the only logical move."
Annie shot to her feet, instantly positioning herself between them and Akira's body. "No!" she hissed, her eyes blazing with a protective fire that shocked them both. "Are you insane? Killing him is the stupidest thing we could do! He's not just some Titan. He's the Titan of Light! A living god! He's a far bigger prize than the Founding Titan could ever be. He's our ticket home! He's the ultimate weapon! We take him back alive. That's an order."
She was using his value as an asset to protect the man she loved, and the lie tasted like poison on her tongue. Bertholdt looked away, unable to meet her fierce gaze, while Reiner stared at her, a flicker of suspicion in his eyes. He had never seen her this passionate, this defiant. This was more than just completing the mission.
Before their argument could escalate, the ground began to tremble with the thunder of approaching horses.
"They found us," Bertholdt whispered, his face pale. "We need to go!"
Annie didn't hesitate. "Get back. Disappear," she ordered them, her hand already moving to her mouth. "I'll handle this."
The two warriors melted back into the shadows of the colossal trees, becoming ghosts, as Annie bit down hard.
---
The Scouts burst into the clearing to a horrifying sight. The Female Titan stood there, and held protectively in her crystal-hardened hand was the unconscious body of Akira.
"AKIRA!" Erin's scream was a raw, primal sound of guilt and rage. He had been captured because of her. She had been the target. Without a second thought, without waiting for an order, she raised her hand to her mouth and bit down.
BOOM!
A blast of steam and lightning erupted, and the fifteen-meter Attack Titan stood in her place. With a roar of pure, uncontrolled fury, she charged.
The duel of the Titans was brutal, but short. Erin was a raging inferno, all wild swings and furious, clumsy attacks. The Female Titan, even while protecting Akira in one hand, was a master martial artist. She moved with a deadly grace, using Erin's momentum against her. She ducked under a wild haymaker, spun, and delivered a devastating kick to the back of Erin's knee, the sound of snapping bone echoing through the forest. Erin's Titan roared in pain and stumbled.
The Female Titan didn't go for the kill. She was disabling a threat, not eliminating a rival. She shattered Erin's fists against her hardened skin, broke an arm with a precise chop, and with a final, powerful sweep, knocked the Attack Titan off its feet. Erin's Titan form collapsed to the ground, a steaming, broken heap.
The Scouts could only watch in horror. Mikasa's heart hammered against her ribs. She could feel the Ki signatures—Erin's, wild and fading; Akira's, a tiny, flickering ember; and the Female Titan's... cold, familiar, and full of a pain that mirrored her own. Her Ki sense, honed by Akira's training, screamed the truth at her. A truth so monstrous, so impossible, that her mind refused to accept it, until her heart could deny it no longer.
Her eyes widened, her face a canvas of dawning horror and absolute betrayal.
"ANNIE!"
The name ripped from her throat, raw and full of agony. It wasn't a question. It was an accusation. A verdict.
"ANNIE, GIVE HIM BACK!"
The world went silent.
Every soldier froze. Jean, Connie, Armin—their faces went slack with confusion, then twisted into disbelief and horror as the implication hit them. The quiet, stoic girl from their barracks? The one who sparred with them, who ate with them? That was the monster who had just slaughtered their friends?
Hidden in the trees, Reiner and Bertholdt froze, their blood turning to ice. She knows. How does she know?!
Levi's eyes narrowed, the pieces of a puzzle he didn't even know he was solving clicking into place with cold, terrifying clarity. Erwin's face remained impassive, but a storm of calculations raged behind his eyes.
But just as the tension was about to snap, just as the world was about to break under the weight of this revelation, the forest itself seemed to hold its breath. The birds went silent. The wind died. A deep, resonant hum vibrated up from the ground, a feeling of ancient, malevolent power that made every soldier's blood run cold.
The ground began to shake violently. A deep, guttural roar echoed through the forest, a sound so ancient and powerful it made the very trees tremble. It wasn't a Titan. It was something older. Something worse.
With a deafening crash, the earth itself erupted. A monster of nightmares clawed its way out of the ground. It was a walking mountain, a brutish, heavily armored Kaiju that towered a full sixty meters into the sky. Its body was covered in thick, overlapping bone plates, its head was a crown of wicked, jagged horns, and its eyes glowed with a mindless, predatory hunger. It was drawn to the immense energy of the three Titan Shifters, and it saw only food. It made the fifteen-meter Female Titan look like a child.
---
The Kaiju was a force of nature. It slammed into the Female Titan, who was forced to defend herself while still cradling Akira. She was strong, but the Kaiju's brute strength was overwhelming. It battered her with its massive, club-like fists, and her crystal armor, which had seemed so invincible moments before, began to crack and splinter under the relentless assault.
She was thrown back, crashing through several giant trees. She struggled to her feet, her Titan form steaming and damaged, but she never let go of the precious cargo in her hand.
From the sidelines, watching this horror unfold, Mikasa felt a new kind of terror. She was watching the traitor who had taken Akira about to be killed by an even bigger monster. A desperate, irrational thought shot through her mind. No... not yet... not while she still has him!
Her desperate hope, Erin's fading consciousness reaching out for her hero, Armin's terrified prayers—all of their feelings, their desperate need for their protector, became tangible threads of light, invisible to most, but flowing through the air like a river of hope towards Annie's hand.
Inside her crystalline grip, Akira's body, jostled by the violent impacts, began to absorb that light. The raw, chaotic energy of the Kaiju's attacks, and the desperate hope of his friends, was awakening something new.
A deep, pulsing, crimson light began to glow from his body, shining through the cracks in Annie's hardened fingers.
Annie looked down at her hand in shock as the light intensified, growing hotter and hotter. Akira's eyes snapped open.
But they weren't his usual steel blue. They were burning with a furious, blood-red light.
"GRRAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
A roar of pure, untamed power erupted from her hand. A massive explosion of red and black energy blasted her fingers open, sending her stumbling backward.
From the blinding light, a new giant emerged, and it was terrifying.
It grew and grew, its body a canvas of crimson red and stark white. Jagged, black and gold armor that looked both regal and demonic encased its shoulders and left arm. Its head was adorned with a sharp, aggressive crest, and its eyes... its eyes were pure, burning power. It didn't stop growing until it stood at a colossal sixty meters, eye-to-eye with the Kaiju. This was not the graceful warrior or the swift phantom. This was a brawler. A destroyer.
This was Ultraman Power Form.
He let out a roar that challenged the Kaiju, a sound of pure, unadulterated strength, and the forest fell silent for one, terrifying heartbeat before the true battle began.
---
•To Be Continue•
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