"Fire in the hole!" a Drawf man yelled.
Erwin didn't really understand why the man screamed that just as they detonated the explosives. He knew it was to let everyone know that they were going to blow up a bunch of Titans, but everyone was already cleared… maybe protocol…
The ground shook, and a cloud of dust flew into the air, hiding the unmoving bodies of the monsters caught in the explosions.
Soon the smoke cleared and the men could count the dead monsters.
"Uh… hard to tell, but given the heavy amounts of steam I say we have a good number of tangos down… if not most of them…" a voice came in over the radio.
"Excellent, sergeant, excellent. Get some of the Waffen SS guys to help you clear out any of the stubborn ones." The commanding officer replied.
Radio… we could use that to great effect in our expeditions… saved several lives-
Erwin pushed the thoughts away. Those who had died were being avenged even as he inspected the building materials they had brought.
Several meters below him, the Imperials were already working on installing their Steel gate.
He had to wonder where those destructive abominations were now. If original reports of the event were to be believed the Armored Titan survived direct cannon fire, but these Imperial guns were far more destructive and accurate…
How would an imperial tank hold up against the armored titan?
"Your boys are sleeping, right?"
Erwin turned to glance at the Imperial officer. He had ordered Levi and his team to rest up in one of the flying machines the Imperials called a helicopter, that way they would be able to help during the final, more dangerous stages of the next day.
Given the eerie lack of sound coming from the inside of that helicopter, I wouldn't say they're asleep, but…
"Yes, hopefully, they won't be needed tomorrow."
The Imperials nodded before glancing at the Golems working on the giant gaping hole in the structure.
"On the light side of things, everything seems to be on schedule." The Soldiers muttered.
"Yes… do you think your men are alright?"
The commander glanced behind him then, hearing a small explosion ring throughout the mostly empty district. The possibility of an abnormal attack in the middle of the night was a given, but not something he or any one of them could afford.
Erwin hoped his men as well as these… SS" were able to hold off or destroy any Titans approaching.
…
Moblit watched as the Imperials used his rifle to destroy both eyes on the seemingly sleeping titan. It had been sitting on the remains of a destroyed house, eyes wide open and unblinking; a disturbing parody of the humans its form tried to mimic. But despite being very much aware of the men in front of it, the beast did not attack.
It just sat there… watching, or at least, pretending to watch.
At least, until the Imperials destroyed both its eyes with two short bursts from his assault rifle.
Two members of the survey corps walked to the left of the creature, firing their cables at its head, and hooking themselves to it.
"Alright-alright-alright! Quickly now! No time to waste!" the ever-energetic Hanji ordered the soldiers, both hers and the Imperials.
The men collectively pulled on the cables, slowly forcing the titan to lie on its side. The creature was more than cooperative as it rolled on its stomach, exposing its weak spot.
The man who had stood by with the HGA moved ahead and awkwardly climbed on top of it.
Moblit figured that the Imperials didn't like risking their men to learn basic things about the Titans, but this was important if they intended to fight the enemy in a more efficient manner.
The Imperials stared through his night vision goggles, eyeing the nape of the monster's neck.
He was somewhat startled by the energetic girl suddenly standing next to him.
"You know where to shoot, right?"
"Yeah, sort of, the issue is the exact spot."
"Well! As we discussed, this area right here!" the woman pointed with her blade, making an oval shape on the neck of the unmoving monster.
"I know that, but here's the thing…"
The Sorcerous empire-manufactured HGA fired two rounds directly into the nape, the sound somewhat reduced by its silencer.
Hanji observed with curiosity as the wound healed.
"Interesting…" she mumbled.
"Yeah… you guys cut the whole nape, our tanks, and heavy rounds outright pulverize the damned thing… but when we use our rifles… we need more precision…" the soldier replied, unsure what that information meant for the Survey Corps, but knowing full well what it meant for him.
Another short burst from the assault rifle, this one much more focused on the very center of the nape and the beast shook ever so slightly before it began to go up in smoke.
The scientist was already hypothesizing about what that could mean.
"You know, if we could capture one we could use your rifles to pinpoint an area in order to get a clearer picture as to what we have to hit…" she mumbled.
"Well, we'll have to save that for later." The Waffen operative stated, hopping off from the disintegrating corpse.
Hanji followed, slightly more somber now as she was deep in thought.
With all that done, the strange combined force kept moving through the abandoned district.
No noises were present in the darkness, which made the area ever more disturbing to the men and women exploring it, hunting for monsters that could devour them whole.
Several decomposed bodies remained already dry and almost gone in the ruins of the district, yet still acting as a still image of the horror that had struck humanity that fateful day.
For the Imperial Special Forces team, this was… different.
"Supreme… I thought titans ate the people whole…" one of the Waffen whispered, staring at a pair of legs that were strewn near a house with a hole in the wooden roof.
"Not necessarily. They can't digest things and sometimes they get full, so they eat apart and leave the rest… like that one." Moblit whispered back, pointing with a flashlight towards an intact body that was missing a head.
These things work better than regular torches… but I don't know if it makes me feel better being able to see things in so much detail…
"Supreme…" the Soldier groaned in response.
There was still no noise coming from the empty buildings.
The Soldiers continued to stare at the bodies near the house. It didn't take a detective to figure out what happened. An almost skeletal hand still clutched a rusty pendant, moss and other plants growing around it, and the pieces of what had probably once been a handbag. Someone was probably trying to grab some belongings and got snatched up and devoured right there. All that was left were those small pieces no one would notice unless they looked.
The utter silence of it all felt too heavy to ignore, yet he pushed himself forward regardless.
Decontaminating this is going to be a-
Moblit's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of wood and bricks suddenly being shoved aside.
Similar to a landmine going off, a large figure emerged from the remains of what might have once been a bakery, tossing debris in every direction as it turned to look for its prey. It spotted them almost immediately, staring back at it in surprise, none of them certain of how to act.
Big mistake.
Its arm darted towards one of the closest humans, an odd-looking snack given that it was covered in completely different clothing compared to the others she had eaten so long ago.
"Oh f-! It's got me!" The Soldier yelled, partly in panic, and partly in pain as the fat, five-meter-sized titan began crushing him in her grip.
His buddies opened up with their rifles, taking out one eye before the thing showed some small level of intelligence and covered its eyes with the same arm it was using to hold their brother in arms.
"God- Tim, hit it with the two-oh-three!" one of them yelled.
The M203 grenade launcher might not kill the titan, or it might hit the man they were trying to save, and simply blinding it might not work.
All they had going for them was that it was slow.
In one swift move, Hanji had used her gear to hook herself to the head of the monster and get above it. Once positioned over its head, she let gravity take its course and fell to the ground, swiftly cutting the nape of the monster's neck in one second and landing on the ground like nothing had happened the next.
The creature stammered and fell to the side, releasing the Soldier.
Moblit watched with some degree of pride as the Imperials stared dumbfounded at the speed with which Hanji had taken out the creature.
"These head torches are really something great! Hey, soldier! Can you still walk?" she called with glee.
The Soldier rolled to his side, while taking heavy breaths.
"…Rine…" the Imperials breathed.
"Excuse me?" Hanji asked.
"Rine…! Call me my name, not a soldier…" the man groaned at the energetic woman.
"Or… maybe not? " the other Imperial mumbled.
"If I could read your name tag I would call you by your name. Unfortunately, I can't do that… yet." The girl said, grinning.
"I-"
"Take it easy, dude. If you can walk we only have another street to clear. But maybe we should get you to a medic back at the wall."
"I'm fine… just… out of… breath…"
The soldier then took out a potion and drank it.
"let's go"
"Hmm. What was that?"
"It's a potion. If you need it, you can say it.
"Huh!"
"Splendid! Then we move forward! Onward men from another world!" she said, marching down the street again.
The Soldier turned to Moblit.
"She always like that?" the soldier asked.
"You get used to it."
…
The rising sun brought both hope and dread to the commander of the Survey Corps.
On the one hand, they had survived the night with zero casualties… by the Empire's standards. By Survey Corps standards this was unprecedented.
One SS with a pair of fractured ribs, courtesy of an over-enthusiastic titan, and one survey corps scout who had twisted his ankle while walking on the roof of a decrepit house that almost collapsed with him on it.
But the Imperial officers seemed… concerned.
"…and it was moving slow. We've seen what the quick ones can do." He overheard them mutter amongst themselves.
"The Enry, G3, and DOVA 4s are fully stocked, as long as we conserve ammo and missiles, we should hold them off long enough."
Erwin glanced at the men now adding the materials the corps had brought along to the hole.
Said hole in the wall was sealed for all intents and purposes, but it was more than a little important to finish reinforcing it.
"Captain!" a voice came over the radio.
The Army lieutenant listened in.
"Our eye in the sky detected several large groups coming over the hills… both inside and outside the walls…. Time's up."
"Levi!" Erwin called.
The captain and his team had gotten little sleep the previous night despite their orders to be well-rested.
But it was enough. The four elites ran up to their commander.
"The hole in the rear wall is our biggest concern right now; keep them away from the teams finishing up the reconstruction here."
"Understood. Let's move, people!" the captain ordered, his team moving with purpose.
Roy watched the team throw themselves from the wall before hooks shot out and stuck to the walls, using their gear to swing along the side of it, moving quickly to reach the hole on the other side, where the threat of Titans was just as bad. White smoke reminiscent of jets back home was all they left behind.
"Primitive tech or not, these guys are legit." One of the Waffen operatives mumbled as he finished setting up the .50 caliber M82 Barret anti-material rifle.
Roy himself had picked one up in order to assist with the men on the ground. The walls made for excellent sniper nests, and the Special Forces were more than happy to take advantage of that.
The .50 caliber rounds might not help too much, considering the distance, but it might just be enough to make a difference.
The sound of the helicopter engines starting up let Erwin know that this was indeed the final push.
No… not final…
This was the first.
The first of many needed to reclaim the land beyond the walls. He was unsure if he would see the day when the enemy of humanity was wiped from this earth, but he would give everything to bring that day within grasp.
"Contact! Uh… thirty plus enemy approaching, bearing south…" the radio chattered, the pilot was oddly calm at the statement, but it mattered little to Erwin.
The fight began, and all hands would be on board this time.
…