In all his years as a soldier, Zeke Yeager had never felt such humiliation.
When he turned around, his eyes went wide. The three young recruits—their supposed Titan warrior candidates—were gone. Not simply gone.
They had scrambled, crawled, and sprinted so far into the distance that the trail of dust behind them was already dissolving into the night air.
"They ran…? They ran?!" Zeke's voice cracked into a growl.
"This is why I despise training brats! They deserted! Deserted, right in front of me!"
The mighty Captain of Marley's Warriors clenched his jaw, rage and misery twisting inside him. These children had been carefully chosen by the higher-ups, trained to wield the power of Titans. Yet when true battle arrived, they had thrown aside their duty without hesitation.
Cowards. Useless cowards.
Zeke's voice thundered across the clearing. "Have you all forgotten what you are? Forgotten that you can turn into Titans? Then what use are you as warriors?!" His fury shook his chest. "I'll strip you of your Titan powers—every single one of you!"
But his fury found no outlet.
The real humiliation burned deeper: the Pure Titan that had swallowed Marcel… it had changed. In the blink of an eye, it had transformed into the Jaw Titan and fled with speed unmatched by any other shifter.
Zeke had thought Annie might chase it down—she, at least, possessed speed and skill to rival the Jaw Titan. But his greatest hope, his sharpest recruit, had bolted. Annie Leonhart, too, had run.
The bitter taste of betrayal filled his mouth.
Zeke staggered, his hands mangled and useless, stripped of his greatest weapon: his throwing power. In desperation, he bent and seized a rock at his feet. He hurled it at the retreating Jaw Titan, but without fingers to grip or strength to guide it, the stone tumbled harmlessly to the ground.
It didn't even graze the Titan's hide.
Zeke's golden eyes followed the beast's silhouette until it disappeared beyond the mountains. His body trembled with rage, his throat raw with a howl of defeat.
His recruits had fled. His comrade had been devoured. His fingers were gone, his power halved.
Never since the day he first donned a uniform had he felt so powerless.
For a long moment, the Beast Titan stood in silence, fists clenched against the soil. Then, with bitter calculation, Zeke forced himself to act. He could not afford to linger. The Jaw Titan was lost—for now. But the remaining recruits were not.
If I let them be picked off, we'll lose everything. They must be retrieved.
Grinding his teeth, Zeke turned toward the faint trail of footprints and smoke. He lumbered forward, muttering bitterly into the night.
"I hate training new recruits the most…"
…
Far ahead, Reiner Braun stumbled to a stop, his chest heaving. His lungs burned, his legs ached, but at last he halted, gasping for air.
And then, suddenly, realization struck him. "Wait… I can turn into a Titan! If I do, I can save Marcel—!"
Before the thought could finish, a cold hand gripped his shoulder. Reiner froze, then turned.
A fist cracked against his jaw, knocking him sprawling to the ground.
"Idiot!" Annie Leonhart stood over him, fists clenched, her blue-gray eyes blazing with fury. "You just remembered you can transform?! Why were you running, then?!"
Reiner blinked up at her, dazed. "A-Annie? Why are you here…?"
She scowled. Behind her, Bertolt staggered into view, doubled over and panting heavily.
Annie's voice rose, sharp and uncharacteristically emotional. "Do you have any idea what you did?! I only ran because I saw you running! You started it! And then… damn it…"
For the first time in years, a flush of shame burned across Annie's face. She clenched her fists tighter. "Marcel's dead. And it's all your fault!"
Reiner's chest clenched. Shame weighed him down, yet his lips fumbled out excuses. "No… no, it's fine. Captain Zeke is still there. He'll save Marcel. He—"
A shadow loomed.
The ground shook as a massive, fur-covered foot slammed into the dirt before them. The three young warriors lifted their heads in awe and terror.
"Captain!" They cried together.
The towering figure of the Beast Titan crouched, lowering his massive face toward them. Zeke's amber eyes gleamed with grief. He snatched Reiner up in his palm and roared, voice booming like thunder:
"S! O! R! R! Y!"
The force of his words blasted through Reiner's hair, nearly knocking the boy unconscious.
"I couldn't stop him!" Zeke bellowed. "When I transformed, the attacker had already swallowed Marcel. It evolved into the Jaw Titan.
By the time I reached him—he was already gone!"
Reiner froze in Zeke's grasp, his body limp. His mind reeled.
"Marcel… is dead…"
The words stabbed into him like knives. His thoughts spiraled. Marcel's laughter, Marcel's encouragement, Marcel's voice promising,
"I'll protect you. You'll go home. You'll see your mother again."
Reiner's throat closed. The promise had been fulfilled—too soon. Far too soon.
Tears welled and streamed down his cheeks. He no longer fought Zeke's grip.
He had always been the weakest candidate. The one no one believed in. And now, without Marcel—he felt like nothing at all.
The last soldier left behind.