"He moves incredibly fast."
Floating effortlessly through the air, Lucien Graves stepped repeatedly on empty space, a chilling sneer playing across his lips as he watched the Beast Titan below.
Even Zeke Yeager, the Beast Titan, felt an unnatural chill crawl through his body, his soul trembling under the oppressive aura of Lucien's presence.
Fear radiated from him, deep in his bones.
"How… how can a human fly without equipment?" Zeke muttered, teetering on the edge of panic.
This man moved through the air as if it were solid ground.
"Whoosh!"
Lucien remained silent, Blade appearing in both hands. He did not transform into the Armored Titan. Staying in human form gave him unmatched flexibility, allowing the free use of Soru and Geppo.
"Damn it…"
Suppressing the fear in his heart, Zeke hardened his right hand and struck first, attempting to overwhelm Lucien.
"Too slow," Lucien said coldly.
His eyes flashed like lightning. As Zeke's fist closed in, Lucien used Soru to cover six meters in an instant, landing directly in front of the Beast Titan. In a blink, his blade plunged into the Titan's eyes, twisting savagely.
"Ah!" Zeke screamed, blinded.
A gust of wind swept past, yet the Beast Titan barely had time to react. Lucien used Soru three times in rapid succession, appearing at the Titan's feet. With surgical precision, he severed Zeke's Achilles tendons. There was no opportunity to Harden.
"Boom… rumble…"
The Beast Titan's massive body crashed to the ground, sending rubble and sand flying. It flipped cleverly to shield its nape.
Lucien hovered mid-air, coated in steaming blood. A small smirk appeared.
"Clever," he said, amused. The Beast Titan lay prone, temporarily blinded and regenerating, steam rising heavily from its body. Only the faint sounds of Lucien's rapid movement reached him.
Sparks flew as Lucien slashed at the Titan's armpits, attempting to immobilize its hands. But Zeke kept his upper body completely Hardened in panic.
All he could do now was wait—wait for his eyes and legs to recover. Once they did, he might escape toward the sea. Only then would survival seem possible.
"Crack…"
Golden lightning struck from the sky. Lucien transformed into the Armored Titan, abandoning patience.
"You think your Hardening will save you?" he roared, planting his feet firmly on the Beast Titan's legs.
Raising his right fist, also hardened, he struck the Titan's skull with brutal force.
"Bang! Bang!"
The ground shattered in a spiderweb of cracks, chunks of earth scattering under the force of the blow. Hardening clashed against Hardening in a contest of pure strength.
The Beast Titan was no match for the Armored Titan. Lucien's innate armor, augmented by Hardening, left Zeke defenseless.
Steam hissed as the Beast Titan's facial Hardening cracked and flaked away, streaks of blood seeping through.
"Boom… boom…"
Lucien sat astride the Titan's chest, fists raining down like a storm, targeting eyes and throat. For five relentless minutes, he hammered the Titan's head into pulp, leaving destruction in his wake.
He reached into the remains and lifted Zeke, now powerless and terrified.
"No… spare me… spare me!" Zeke cried.
Death loomed impossibly close.
With a horrific scream, Lucien bit through Zeke's spine, swallowing everything.
A flash of lightning surged through Lucien's mind. In the blink of an eye, he was transported to a strange new world.
Sand stretched endlessly around him, and a colossal pillar of light rose into the sky, connecting heaven and earth. Above, a dense network of pathways resembled a starry night.
Lucien climbed from the sand, frowning at the unfamiliar sight. Had he transmigrated again?
Below the pillar, a small girl worked silently. Her long hair and empty eyes gave her a ghostly presence. Ragged clothes hung from her frame as she piled sand into shapes resembling Titans.
"Who are you?" Lucien demanded, tense and alert.
The girl ignored him, continuing her work as if he weren't there. Minutes passed.
Then Lucien turned his gaze behind her. His eyes widened. Everywhere, Colossal Titans, Mindless Titans, and Nine Titans stood, meticulously shaped from sand across the expanse.
"Whoosh…"
Blinding light enveloped him, and suddenly Lucien was back in the real world. Waves crashed on the nearby beach, his posture still that of having just devoured Zeke.
"What just happened?"
Emerging from the Armored Titan's nape, he realized it wasn't a dream.
"Could that be Ymir, the original Founding Titan?" he wondered, piecing together what he had seen.
Lucien recalled fragments from the anime and manga he had studied. Spoilers and speculation had hinted that the regenerative powers of Titans stemmed from Ymir reshaping them in the Paths dimension. Injured Titans healed because of her continuous work in this strange realm.
The girl he had just witnessed was Ymir, the original Founding Titan.
For two thousand years, she had remained in the Paths, endlessly restoring Titans whenever they were wounded.
Lucien speculated: "Is it because I now hold six Titans that I can see her?"
Or perhaps because the current Beast Titan wielder possessed King Fritz's royal blood, the same bloodline that had enslaved Ymir.
Once a slave to King Fritz, Ymir had lost her will and soul. She obeyed completely, bearing three children—Maria, Rose, and Hina—and was ultimately consumed by them, remaining in the Paths to serve her descendants for eternity.
Truly, it was a tragedy.
Among all Nine Titans, only the Founding Titan, wielded by legitimate royal blood, could control other Titans and alter memories. And now, Lucien understood the origin of their terrifying regenerative power.
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