At the height of the fierce battle in the deserted town, in the refugee camp for Shiganshina district residents, Eren suddenly began sleepwalking.
In his dream, he was taken to a space full of sand, like a desert. Most notably, a colossal tree-like structure reached up to the highest point, shining with intense and wondrous light.
Looking at it, Eren felt a special connection. This wasn't the first time it had happened; it was just that in previous times, he had been too dazed to notice.
"What is that?"
"You can call it the Coordinate, the Tree of Life,... or the Source."
Eren was startled. The boy didn't think anyone could answer him in his own dream. Just as he was about to turn his head to look for the owner of the voice, it sounded again.
"No need to turn around."
"Why?"
"Because it is not necessary."
The conversation reached a dead end. After a while, Eren awkwardly asked.
"Where... is this place? What is the Coordinate? Also... why am I here..."
Eren was a child, no doubt, but he was already ten years old. He possessed a certain level of awareness, and after experiencing so much, he didn't think the mysterious person behind him had called him here just for sightseeing.
"This place is the spiritual space, which exists outside of time. That Coordinate is what connects everyone. You, your mother, your father... all of you are connected."
"What about you?"
"Me? I am a phantom."
"Eren, another person will arrive here soon. When that person appears, say three things and lead them to the Coordinate over there."
"The first thing: send my regards to me, 2,000 years from now."
"The second thing: stop the future."
"The third thing: seek freedom."
"Remember..."
The voice behind him faded, moving farther and farther away until it completely vanished. Eren turned around, finding absolutely nothing. It was like an illusion.
At the same time, the sleepwalking Eren vaguely emerged from his sleeping spot. He approached the spot where Grisha had slept not far away, gently placing one hand on his nape.
...
Bang!
Asahi appeared inside Frieda's consciousness. He saw the colossal skeleton wrapped in chains, wearing a crown. Without saying a word, he immediately unleashed his strongest form.
Asahi's entire body was enveloped in a surge of white power, forming a shape similar to his armor, but glowing. An imperial gold rhomboid appeared on his forehead. That golden light pointed directly at the Founder's Will, followed by a collision and contest between two differing wills.
The contest of will and spirit is very simple, yet extremely cruel. Both sides continuously charged to tear each other apart. Of course, since this is the spiritual world, they could constantly recover by recollection. However, each time they recalled, it wasn't gentle; it was like tearing the body apart and then sewing it back together with needle and thread. If it tore, they sewed it up again. Too much damage could even affect a layer deeper than the subconscious—the soul. And damage to the soul is permanent damage.
Asahi's entire body was riddled with holes, but he did not flinch. He continuously devastated, recovered, and knocked away the Founder. He dismantled each of its bones and tossed them into the void. He transformed into an arrow, piercing the spirit and shattering the Founder's skull and crown.
"Success!"
Asahi was secretly delighted. The Founder's Will had gathered the power of generations of successors, but in the end, it had still decayed over time, slowly losing its spiritual essence.
"Alright, now I just need to pull Frieda out and..."
His thought stopped, silenced.
Because now, he was standing in a place similar to a desert, with the sky above as dark as ink. And an unknown distance away, at the center of this sandy desert, the Coordinate was intensely glowing, looking no different from a galaxy cutting across the sky.
Asahi examined himself. He was currently in the form of white light with the imperial gold arrow on his forehead, which was his form of fighting will from moments ago. That is, only his spirit was transported here, not his body.
"Could it be the Founder? No, I pushed it back."
Asahi thought to himself. The reason he only said he pushed it back, rather than destroyed it, even though it looked like he had successfully defeated the Founder's Will, was because the last time he did the exact same thing, he only pushed it back, not completely annihilated it.
It seems that the reason the Founder's Will can exist is here. As a form of will-body could contain him, this place must have a similar nature.
Unfortunately, having arrived here, the Founder's Will vanished without a trace.
"What should I do now?"
Asahi looked around, his white figure shimmering, beginning to walk on the sand dunes, exploring this desert region. Because he was a pure will-body, his perception was greatly expanded, allowing him to see very mysterious things.
For example, the sand dunes themselves.
He lowered himself, cupped a handful of sand, and then relaxed his hand, letting it flow down below.
"It's truly strange. Clearly a spiritual body, yet it has an inclination toward physical existence."
Although spirit and matter both coexist, their fundamental natures are completely different. Just like him now, his will can easily crush the will of a normal person. But projecting onto the outside reality, his aura can, at most, slightly distort the surrounding environment. He can't even shatter a glass cup.
It's not that spiritual power is weak. In fact, many power systems primarily use the soul and spirit. But I am comparing based on a purely theoretical benchmark.
I imagine a cake in my mind, using my will to project that cake into reality. It could even make others' senses perceive a real cake, smell it, and genuinely feel it. But no matter how real it seems, it cannot escape its nature. There is no cake; it is only the will being strong enough to interfere with the senses.
But the sand beneath his feet was different. Asahi suddenly remembered Grisha's description of the Titans transformed from Eldian people.
"They injected them with glass syringes containing a thick solution—which I later realized was Titan spinal fluid—into their napes. Then they pushed them down. My brothers, my comrades, began to transform, screaming and howling before being enveloped by layers of muscle and bone that grew from nothing."
Growing from nothing sounds very mystical in a world that seemingly emphasizes science. Asahi had confirmed that this world was not a world of magic or anything similar. So, if it wasn't magic, what created a complete Titan body?
Asahi didn't believe it truly came from nothingness. At least, at the level of this world, it shouldn't be possible.
While lost in thought, he suddenly saw a small figure approaching him. Furthermore, this was someone he had seen before.
"Eren?"