Things went south very quickly.

A horde of titans gathered at the entrance.

Shit!

They started pushing through the guards at the wall.

Shit!!

All the people were getting ready for the inauguration.

SHIT!!!

Okay. I needed to think this through.

'Get Armin and Mikasa first. Then, with their help, get Mom over the other wall.'

As I was falling from the height, I attached my gear near the top of the hole the colossal titan just made. The other titans looked at my falling figure with gaping mouths.

I fell closer and closer, and right as I got to the same height as the hole, I pulled the cord. The sudden change in direction drove me straight through the gate.

I released another cord to a building to my left as soon as I get out.

Our squad was standing outside a large warehouse.

"MIKASA! ARMIN!" I landed next to them.

"EREN! What's going on?" Armin ran up to me.

"I don't have the time to explain. Get our stuff and leave for the other wall. Mikasa! Take Mom and get over the wall. Alert the survey corps while you're at it."

"They're out on a mission right now." They did leave because the three other squads sent them out.

"Damn it!" Everything was a mess. I looked around frantically to find some backup. But the others were already trying to help evacuate the citizens. "Then you two take care of each other and get out of here!"

"What are you going to do?" Mikasa shook me.

"I need to make a name for myself." It wasn't for fame. If I used this opportunity, I could take years off my servitude for the country. "Go, okay?" I patted her shoulder.

Reluctantly she clicked her tongue. "I'll be back soon!"

Armin and Mikasa ran off.

Let's do this.

I released a cord behind and blasted off.

Time flowed slowly.

A titan, smaller than the rest was conveniently in my path.

I grabbed my blade.

The first kill was mine. I sliced through its nape.

"AAARRRGHHH!!!"

Just one slice was enough to completely shatter my blade. Titans were much harder than I thought. And this was just a small one!

I released a cord and take off in another direction. I needed a vantage.

This battle was not to kill every titan here but to make sure the civilians got out of here. The supply of titans was near never ending.

'Clear the path until most of the people get out.'

A battle of endurance.

I replaced my blades and stepped back on the ground.

"NONE OF YOU BASTARDS WILL GET PAST ME, YOU HEAR?!"

They ran abhorrently with their meals in sight. I grabbed the hilts of my blades tighter. The first one wasn't so far away anymore. My heart was racing, but not out of fear. Excitement? No. It was anger.

As soon as the titan got inside my strike distance, I attached myself to a building. Then I ran straight ahead.

It took a whole blade to slice through a titan. I had eight left. So after getting through the immediate horde of titans, I needed to go up the wall to secure some more blades.

I sliced through one neck. Then another.

While gliding through the wind, covered in titan blood, I noticed that the rest of the cadets were either hiding in plain fear or evacuating the rest of the crowd.

I sliced through four more titans.

Many higher-ranked officials who were already present for the inauguration ceremony, took over the evacuation. Their squads started to hunt the titans heading out in different directions as soon as they entered.

Most of the squad members died as soon as they came in contact with a titan.

I killed two more titans before attaching myself to the walls.

Steam releases from my gear as I get propelled up the wall.

I found a fresh supply of blades in a carton and loaded the gear up with ten and put a pair on before heading down.

The little while that I was away, the titans gained a lot of ground. I went down and slaughtered any and every titan I came across.

And went back up to restock.

And slaughtered.

And restocked.

And slaughtered.

.

.

.

"Haah... haah... haah.. haaah..." I used to think that my stamina after becoming a ghoul had increased, but even this is enough to take a toll on me. I was tired.

I lifted my blade once again.

Short of breath, and my vision blurry.

The town was still filled and the cries of the people made it more than clear that the battle was nowhere close to ending. The squad assigned here with me either died or ran away after exhaustion.

'Just a little longer.' I told myself but I was already on my last leg.

I needed a boost of morale if anything.

"I won't let you pa-!!"

"Eren!" I heard a familiar voice in the background.

I turned around. Reiner, Connie, Annie, Martha, Jean... almost everyone from the cadet corps was there.

"We secured the immediate area to the wall, let us help you." Berthold was the first to join me. Annie and the others already leapt onto the titans.

"Okay... umm be careful. Titan skin is a lot harder than you'd expect." I alerted them.

He nodded.

I turned back and faced the titans.

"IF YOU RUN OUT OF BLADES, GO UP AND RESTOCK THEM!"

I ran and attached to the titans as well.

Just a little more.

And a little more is all it took. Just that little bit was enough to turn this mission into hell.

The comrades I had known for two whole years. All their efforts. All their dreams. They died in front of me. There was no resistance. They turned into prey as soon as they went in. Weak... how incredibly weak.

I wasn't mocking them yet, I was just disappointed.

Martha, Marco, Sandra, Gordon. All gone. Their dreams, hopes ended as soon as they started.

"HEEEELPPPP!!!" Mina shouted as her head got bitten off.

"MIIINAAA!!!" Franz cried as he watched his lover's head got bitten off. His mind shattered, and the next moment, he took to the inside of the same titan's stomach. The power of love was stupid. A fantasy those people created.

No one was fighting to win anymore. They weren't fighting to save the others. They were fighting for survival.

Two years of experience meant nothing in front of a titan.

This would have been me had I not become a ghoul.

That day I killed ten more titans.

::XXX::

The sun started to fall and the titans became less adamant about attacking. The broken town was almost desolate.

"We should head back." Connie said in an almost lifeless voice. I wouldn't blame him after witnessing the massacre.

"Let's go."

Yes, we were free to leave now. Leave the horror I wanted to run away from two years ago but had to witness again because I sold my soul to the survey corps.

Everyone became silent and took their own routes. The more spread out we were, the less likely the titans were to follow us.

The sky was red and eerily similar to the colour of the blood we were drenched in.

This was the conclusion of humanity's second downfall.