Burdens(Erehisu)

Chapter 25

Embedded inside the thick, heavy, white fog, the ship rocked gently on the cold surface of the water. The brunet had to consciously stabilize his balance as the battleship rocked from side to side. In front of him stood the dark silhouette of the prince of Hizuru. Even though Eren couldn't see what expression was on the ugly face of his, Eren knew that the Prince was on edge based on his slightly bent back and knees. The cowardly posture of his black silhouette illuminated clearly in the white fog. Being able to see the figure of the Prince also meant that the Prince could see him. And this is clearly evident given by how carefully the Prince faced him while he tried to circle Eren.

Matching the adversary's pace, Eren calmly circled in the opposite direction of the prince. The two dark figures circled each other in the white smoke as they both sought an opportunity of attack. Looking for any weakness for exploitation, Eren and Prince Katsu cautiously closed their circle's circumference. "Let me ask you this," Katsu called out with slight fear in his voice. "Why don't you transform?" Katsu waited for Eren to respond while adjusting his distance between him and Eren as they continued their encirclement. When Eren didn't hesitate as he hoped, Katsu continued. "You can easily blow up this ship and me with that monster inside of yours, you know?"

Unfazed by the Prince's obvious attempt to break his engrossment, Eren watched the Prince. Eren's display of confidence and gut emitted an uncomfortable presence--even in this thick, white mist that only a silhouette can be seen. Off in the distance, a clap of thunder roared off; it's after effect permeated the atmosphere of the two. Then, there was another. This one was directly above the two. The sudden loud bang caused both Eren and Katsu a little jump scare, and they took a couple of steps back. Immediately after the thunder dispersed, it felt like the gods had dumped buckets of water onto the ship's deck, washing away the thick, white clouds between the two before the usual heavy rain took its place.

The air surrounding the two was then suddenly sucked away from them as if it was being collected into a single point. At the same time, the sudden golden sparkles in the distance instigated an explosion, followed by a loud boom and shockwaves. The shockwaves caused Katsu to kneel on one knee to prevent himself from being blown away. When Katsu looked up at Eren, there was a fairly good-sized mushroom cloud behind the figure. The bright red mushroom cloud then soon dispersed into nothingness, only to reveal the bare, red, flesh titan that towered over the small town.

===

Out its radius, Historia stood up from the thick concrete wall to peek outside the shattered window. Armin's colossal of a titan devastated everything within its radius, completely wiping out the port and fleet. The town then immediately descended into chaos and confusion as men in black suits swept across the town, eliminating top-ranked military officials, sites that held weapons, and military bases. Watching the disarray unfold, Historia sighed. "Let's get on to our next target," Historia said as she looked up at the hill.

Gazing at a dozen of warships ahead, Jean ordered: "Launch the machines." The fleet of planes took off its runway one by one. Leading the fleet upfront, Floch guided his fleet of planes through the air with barely a grasp of understanding. These new machines that were stolen and sabotaged from one of Hizuru's military bases definitely took time to adjust. "So, is the objective still clear?" Floch asked cold-heartedly through the black box. When the only reply was the static buzz, Floch decided to drop the subject. Gazing into the gloomy and stormy sky, Floch noticed a triple of planes were heading towards them. "Floch, the objective is the same," Jean said with a tone that told Floch that, even though he disapproves of the course of actions set out by Eren, he will play it through.

"Do what you must."

===

I apologize for the long wait for such a short chapter. I had an unexpected turn of events in my personal life. I had to take care of those messes first. To be frank, I then neglected my schedule and decided to take a break from writing. So, yeah. Thank you for continuously reading!

Side note: Watch Oregairu! (My teen romantic comedy SNAFU.) If you have already watched it, then rewatch it. I rewatched the series over my neglected break and it was thrilling. The writing of its characters was superb. The conclusion was bittersweet.

I want to buy the light novel so badly!!!