❝𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐨, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚.❞
Selfishly fascinated with her own strength, Valen Ferreira is willing to do nearly anything and everyth...
On command, dozens of cannons fired, gunpowder bursting from their muzzles in hazy, nose-prickling clouds. Cannonballs hurtled through the air, cutting across the sky so quickly that they resembled shooting stars with their fiery tails. One by one, they disappeared, their round, iron bodies swallowed by a shroud of steam produced by the 120-meter monstrosity dragging its body toward the Orvud District.
The smoky, aggravating essence of gunpowder hung in the air, eliciting coughs all around. As the clouds pooled around their ankles, Valen removed her hands from her ears, head pounding from the ringing in her eardrum. She squinted through the gradually dissolving smoke, trying to make something of the Titan on the ground—it'd stopped moving, lying still on the ground. With something that burned like warmth, Valen hoped that the cannons had dealt enough damage to stop the Titan in its tracks for a while.
Why did I even consider coming? Having been discharged from the Scout Regiment, Valen had concluded that she had no business trying to stop Rod Reiss' Titan form from potentially plowing through Wall Sina. Levi—being Levi, of course—had argued otherwise, stating that she was still legally considered a soldier until Commander Erwin completed the paperwork declaring otherwise. Valen, though, had easily picked up on the fact that he was trying to convince her because he wanted to stretch out whatever time they had left together.
And that's how she wound up on top of Wall Sina, watching what could possibly be humanity's untimely demise.
Something in the air moved, and her stomach twisted in a knot. A bony hand pierced through the smoke, crushing a copse of pines when it slapped down on the earth. The cries of birds rang in the air as a flock fled from its now destroyed home, taking to the skies in the form of a fragmented and swiftly moving cloud. Small patches of fire thrived on the grass. The morning wind, which had been growing stronger since sunrise, briskly carried the fog away, exposing the Titan's once-again moving figure.
Valen tensed, her muscles stiffening all over—this would be the fourth time the Garrison had tried subduing Rod by cannon. They'd been trying all morning, recalculating angles and experimenting with varying brands of ammunition, but nothing seemed to work. Any hopes of stopping the thing were dwindling, evaporating into nothing like the steam twisting from the Titan's body.
"Fire!" Once again, the booming of cannons filled the air, this time originating from the field cannons manned by Garrison soldiers on the ground. If the wall cannons had dealt little damage, then the field cannons had dealt even less—the Titan showed no signs of dropping dead, pulling forward even when its body was studded with holes.
