How do you describe a Titan transformation?
Rein realized his vocabulary couldn't handle the sheer awe of it.
A world-shaking thunderclap lit half the sky red.
A massive surge of energy streaked from the heavens, crashing down a few hundred meters ahead of him.
The blast's force rippled out, trees swaying wildly. Even hundreds of meters away, Rein felt its raw power.
"Who just turned into a Titan?!"
He stared ahead, dazed, realizing he'd been standing there forever.
Then he broke into a sprint, desperate to catch a glimpse of an intelligent Titan's might.
He ran and ran until the scene came into focus.
Dead.
Everyone—dead! All the mindless Titans, the last few Survey Corps survivors—gone.
Steam rose from a gore-soaked mess, the carnage unreal.
He gagged again.
The Survey Corps squad he'd watched ride out from Wall Maria that morning? Wiped out in half a day. Everything changed.
The culprit? Long gone, vanished without a trace.
Titan power was too much.
He couldn't stomach the bloodbath. Turning away, he fled the hellscape.
Dazed and numb, the gore replayed in his mind as he stumbled back to his straw nest like a walking corpse.
The nest was silent, the area deserted.
The Titans that usually loitered nearby had scattered after the chaos.
Just yesterday, that long-haired Titan was spacing out beside him. Now? She'd probably shed her Titan form, ending decades of foggy dreams.
That Abnormal? No clue where it wandered off to—maybe its nape was already slashed.
They were all gone.
He thought.
Rein shakily approached the flat stone slab, its surface scratched with tally marks.
Picking up a rock, he carved four deliberate words: 845.
Today, he finally knew the year.
This was it—the year Wall Maria fell, the starting line of Attack on Titan.
And the first year of Rein's transmigration.
He sat in his nest, the mission text still hovering in his mind:
Task: Enter Wall Maria
Time Limit: 1 Year
Reward: None
Penalty: Death
He'd thought this task would take a thousand risks. Turns out, it'd be a scavenger's win.
The hometown trio had officially set foot on Paradis Island. Wall Maria's breach was imminent.
The Eldians inside, lulled by a century of peace, were about to have their world shattered.
Once the gate broke, Rein could stroll into Wall Maria and call it done.
"What's waiting for me?" His thoughts drifted.
Year 845, day 82 on Paradis. The setting sun filtered through the leaves, dappling his face with light.
This was his last taste of calm.
When Rein opened his eyes, it was morning.
Light mattered to a Pure Titan—everything, really.
Every dazed, mindless Titan craved it, probably.
After a night's rest, he finally pulled himself together.
Before crossing over, he'd been a regular guy—never seen a world as brutal as the wild.
But he'd figured it out: in Attack on Titan, you had to get used to this.
Today's weather was clear, but it might not be a good day.
He wasn't far from Shiganshina District. With the trio's pace, they could breach it today.
When the mindless Titans poured in, that would be true hell on earth.
Yesterday's bloodshed? Child's play.
Rein sucked in deep breaths, trying to shake his nerves. Then he stood and marched toward Shiganshina.
The district's gate was shut tight, calm as still water.
Overnight, more mindless Titans had gathered outside, same as yesterday.
Rein crouched in his usual spot, watching.
The hometown trio didn't disappoint. Barely half an hour passed before three figures—two guys, one girl—slunk along the wall's base near Shiganshina's gate.
Marley's big three.
They crept close to the wall, sneaky as hell.
The old wall, neglected outside, was overgrown with weeds taller than a person. The trio slipped by unnoticed by the wall's guards.
But the guards missed them—the mindless Titans didn't.
The Titans slumped against the wall perked up.
They weren't sure yet, but instinct nudged them closer.
Rein watched from his vantage point. He knew they'd pull it off and breach the gate, but his nerves still twitched.
Once the Titans clocked them, the trio picked up speed.
Faster steps, bigger movements.
The wall guards sensed something off.
Rein saw them peering down.
They'd noticed something odd below but didn't take it seriously.
A century of peace had dulled humanity.
Outside the walls, only Titans and animals survived—humans couldn't.
So those shapes in the weeds? Probably just some playful mountain goats.
You couldn't blame the wall-dwellers' ignorance. Even Rein—when he first learned people could become Titans, first uncovered the trio's identities, first heard of the Marley Empire—every pore on his body prickled.
Readers didn't see it coming, let alone those stuck in the story.
The guards pulled their eyes back.
But soon, they noticed something weirder.
The scattered Titans were all drifting toward those "goats."
What the hell?
The Survey Corps returning from yesterday's run?
While they hesitated, the "goats" neared the gate. The mindless Titans, now certain of their prey, locked in.
Thud, thud, thud~
The Titans charged.
Rein's heart jumped to his throat with the pounding steps.
He'd never imagined he'd witness that day from this angle.
The blue sky shifted hue.
A thunderbolt streaked from beyond the heavens, slamming into Shiganshina's gate with blinding speed.
Steam billowed from the wall's base.
The sky turned a sickly yellow, the ground quaked.
From the swirling fog, a colossal figure emerged.
That day, humanity finally recalled the terror of being ruled by them—and the shame of being caged like birds.