Levi and Mikasa run through the tunnel only to see that the exit has been blocked off by a net as Moblit and Armin catch up at they carry Hange.

"It's got to be a way through if it's all plugged up" Levi says as he spots another opening blocked off by net, "shit. If only we had some gunpowder left".

"We cannot let them get through" the woman says as she guards the net, "as long as we hold here, we're good!".

The light from the lightning strike shines through the tunnel and the rest of the cave as everyone looks in that direction.

"A titan transformed?" Levi asks confused.

"Eren!" Mikasa yells.

"Captain, the hole!" Armin yells as he points to the hole Levi had previously spotted.

"Armin! Moblit! Take Hange and get the hell out of here!" Levi yells as Sasha, Conny and Jean all run over.

"Forget it, Historia!" Eren yells as Historia holds onto his waist, "since that titan's from the Reiss family, just let him come and eat me! Get out of here!".

"Hell no!" Historia yells persistently.

"Why won't you listen?" Eren asks annoyed.

"I may be humanity's enemy but I am your ally! And Evelyn is my Captain!" Historia says as she looks at Evelyn who lies on the ground, trying to breathe properly, "I can't be a good girl, and I don't want to be a God either! But... when I see people crying to themselves, saying they're not needed... I want to tell those people that it's just not true! Not matter who! No matter where! I'll come to their rescue!".

Eren's legs become unlocked as the wind from Rod's explosion knocks Historia back.

"Historia!" Eren yells as Mikasa catches Historia.

"Are you okay?" Historia asks as she grabs the bag.

"Mikasa!" Historia says as she looks at Mikasa.

"Give me the keys!" Levi yells as he flies in and lands.

"Captain? You guys..." Eren says as Mikasa passes Levi the keys, just as Jean grabs his arms.

Levi and Conny come over as Levi unlocks one of Eren's arms.

"Conny, hurry" Levi says as he passes Conny the keys before going to Evelyn, "Evelyn! What the hell happened to you?".

"It was Kenny" Evelyn says as Levi sits her up.

"Forget about me!" Eren says as he looks down at Conny, "hurry up and escape".

"Shut up already, you topless wimp!" Jean yells as he looks at Eren, "it's not just a titan! There's dudes with guns coming for us!".

"He's loose" Conny says as he passes the keys to Jean.

"I think that's way bigger than the Colossal titan, don't you think?" Sasha asks as she helps Levi drag Evelyn back, "the ceiling! Look out!".

Jean and Conny pull Eren back just in time as the ceiling collapses right where the three of them were.

"Shit! There's no way out!" Jean yells as the eight of them watch.

Why? Wasn't he going to eat me? Should I transform? No... my titan can't withstand all of this.

Eren says as he tears up again.

"I'm sorry everyone" Eren says as he falls to the ground, "I've been nothing but useless. Ever since the beginning, I was never the hope for humanity" he says as he spots a jar of powdered metal, "armour?".

"What's this? Do you think you're some kind of tragic hero?" Jean asks as he looks at Eren, "when have you ever accomplished anything on your own? Half the time your sister was always there to finish the job off. You've always been one to half ass everything".

"What a weakling" Conny teases as he looks down at Eren, "we've been through much worse than this".

"Not that I want to get used to it!" Sasha says as she looks up.

"Still, it's going to suck trying to get through all of that" Conny says with a smirk.

"I'll take Eren" Mikasa says as she takes a step forward.

"We can't go nice and slow for you, so hold on for you life" Jean says as he looks at Historia.

"Right" Jean says with a nod.

"It's useless. We can't escape" Eren says as he looks at Mikasa.

"So do nothing?" Historia asks as she looks down at Eren, "do you want to sit here and hold hands until we're crushed or burnt to death? Because we're enemies of humanity?".

"You know, I hate doing this to you every time, but... Eren. You've got to make the choice" Levi says as he looks at Eren whilst holding Evelyn in his arms.

Eren screams as he grabs the jar of powdered metal and runs towards Rod.

"Eren!" Mikasa yells as she puts her arm out.

I'm sorry. Since it's the end, just this once, I want you to let me believe in myself.

Eren says as he bites down on the jar as it breaks in his mouth. Eren transforms as he starts to use crystallisation in order to hold up the cave.

"Everyone, get under Eren!" Levi yells as he runs under Eren.

The cave starts to fully come down as countless members of Kenny's squad are killed and crushed, Kenny managing to escape. Eren screams as he continues to crystallise all around him so they're not crushed. Armin and Moblit make it outside of the chapel with Hange just as it starts to collapse. The entire ground around the chapel starts to split as the trees fall and the chapel practically sinks into the ground.

"Not good!" Moblit says as the three of them jump over one of the cracks.

"Let's try to run!" Armin says as Moblit nods.

They make it up the hill as the three of them fall to the ground, Hange finally waking up.

"Section Commander, are you okay?" Moblit asks as he looks at Hange.

"Yeah, what in the world happened?" Hange asks as they try to catch their breath.

There is a loud noise from behind them as they all turn and they see Rod as a titan start to crawl away from the sunken chapel and broken land. Erwin and his squad watch at the same time in horror from the top of the cliff.

"What the hell is that?" one of the soldiers asks in horror, "if it's that big this far away, it's got to be twice as big as the Colossal titan. The wall won't stand a chance. Commander Erwin?".

"Advance!" Erwin yells as they all start to ride down the cliff towards the rest of the squad.

Mikasa and Jean manage to break Eren out of the crystallisation he created as they look at him.

"That's what I call hardening" Levi says as Mikasa and Jean bring Eren down to the rest of the squad, "even after cutting you away, the titan hasn't disappeared. Pretty impressive, yeah?".

"That bottle... oh yeah!" Eren says as he looks at Levi, "right before I turned into a titan, I drank that 'Armour' bottle".

"Yeah. You couldn't do it at all before now, but you used the hardening power" Levi says as he kneels down next to Evelyn who is now bandaged up, "but you saved us all. In the blink of an eye, you devised and built all of this. Yeah, the construction looks shoddy, but... I bet that's how the walls were made, too. In other words... it's possible for us to plug that hole in Wall Maria now. A lot of enemies and allies have died on the way, and getting this far hasn't been pretty, but for as ugly as it's been, look at the position we're in now".

Retaking Wall Maria... once we do that, we can investigate our sentence. But, our Dad was actually a titan this entire time.

Eren says as he looks down.

"Captain!" Sasha says as she comes over, "we've secured an exit".

"Armin, Moblit and Hange are all safe too!" Conny says as he runs over.

"Well done!" Levi says as he looks at the two of them.

"Eren, are you okay?" Sasha asks as she and Conny come over, "were all safe thanks to you! But to be perfectly honest, when you ran off prancing whilst crying like a baby, I thought we were doomed! 'It's over, over! Get it together, nincompoop! Quit bawling like a snotty nosed baby!', is what I thought".

"Let's go" Levi says as he looks at them all, "we're going after that big ass titan!".

They all make it to the surface as they see the destruction Rod's transformation and movement has caused above ground.

"Is everyone okay?" Erwin asks as he comes over.

"Erwin!" Evelyn says as she pushes off of Levi and she stumbles over to Erwin as he gets off his horse, holding her up, "what's happened to you?".

"Kenny happened. He really doesn't like me" Evelyn says with a small smile.

"Why aren't you healing?" Erwin asks as he looks at the all of the places in which she's bandaged up.

"Rod injected me with something mixed with Eren's blood and it's stopped me from using any of my titan powers" Evelyn says as Levi comes over and picks Evelyn up, placing her on the cart.

"I think it's only temporary though" Historia says as she looks at Erwin.

"Hange and Evelyn are our only casualties" Levi says as he looks at Hange.

"Well, it seems like it's nothing too serious. Hange can be treated and Evelyn can heal once the injection wears off" Erwin says as he looks at the two of them, "well done, everyone".

"I've got a whole slew of things to report, but first-" Levi says as he looks at Erwin.

"What's that titan?" Erwin asks as he looks at Levi.

"It's Rod Reiss" Levi says calmly, "I think we'll need your call on this, Commander Erwin".

"Regardless, we don't have time to stand here and chat" Erwin says as everyone looks at him, "return to Wall Sina".

"You're going to let that big ass crawl right up to the wall?" Levi asks as Erwin turns around.

"To Orvud District, actually" Erwin says as he turns to look at Levi, "that's most likely where it's headed".

They continue to ride alongside Rod as they all watch him, Evelyn and Hange laid down in the cart, Hange watching over Evelyn as she still struggles to heal herself.

"Let's put this all together" Hange says as they looks up at the sky, "basically, Rod Reiss was after the Founding titan, the power inside of Eren. However, unless it's someone with Reiss blood, you won't get it's true potential. Though, even if a Reiss obtains the Founding titan's power, they controlled by the First King's will and refuse to liberate humanity from the titans. Well, isn't that interesting. According to the First King, this is true peace? Now that's a weird way to look at it".

"In other words, we still have an option" Evelyn says as she looks at Hange, "also, our Father may have inherited the founding titan, but in order to even be able to transform into and back from being a titan, he needed to possess another titan power. That must mean Eren has two different titan abilities. The Founding titan's ability to control titans, and whatever the other titan's ability is. Maybe it's enhanced fighting strength. Another thing we found out is that I had previously been to that chapel on the night my Father took the Founding titan from Frieda. And I wanted the Reiss family dead? None of this makes sense. I wouldn't want to kill people. There's so much that doesn't make sense. I lead myself to believe that after I had cut myself free from Reiner when he ate me that I fell into a coma straight away. But I had come to see my Father after the attack, we'd gone and got Eren, Eren had seen me alive after believing me to be dead, and then Father injected me with something that put me into a coma and made me forget everything that happened before the fall of Shiganshina. And then he injected Eren with titan serum and had Eren eat him. But there's so much that happened in my life before that, that I can't remember, and it's so frustrating. I just want to remember".

"Hey, it'll be okay" Eren says as he holds her hand, "whatever memories you've forgotten, maybe Dad's basement will have the answers".

"Let's hope so" Evelyn says as steam starts to rise from her skin.

"Captain Evelyn. You're healing again" Historia says happily.

"If that titan eats me, Rod Reiss will turn me back into a human" Eren says as he looks at Evelyn, "which means it's still possible to have a true Founding titan".

"Seems that way" Levi says as he ride next to the cart on his horse, "we could capture Rod Reiss once he becomes a human. Undo the First King's brainwashing. We've got Evelyn back now so she could torture him to make him change his mind".

"Ooh, I do like torturing" Evelyn says sitting up as she perks up at the sound of torturing men.

"We now you do, sweetheart" Hange says as they pat Evelyn's head.

"If we do that, it might open a path to save humanity" Levi says as he looks forward, "plus, Eren. Are you saying you're fully prepared to let that happen? You as well, Evelyn".

"I am" Eren says as he looks back at Levi.

"Whatever Eren decides, I stand by my brother. Until death" Evelyn says as she squeezes Eren's hand.

"You're forgetting our other option" Historia says as she looks back at Levi, "first of all, the current plan is full of laws. One, there's no proof that you can undo Rod Reiss' brainwashing, no matter how good Evelyn is at torture. No matter how you restrain him, if he alters humanity's memories, it's over. Basically, there's too many factors about the Founding titan that we don't know".

"True. Even if Rod Reiss eats Eren, we have no guarantee that he'll return to normal" Armin says as he looks back at everyone.

"On the other hand, all we've ever known is destructive pacifists" Historia says as she looks at Evelyn, "but as it stands, the Founding titan was taken from them. This is once in a lifetime chance for humanity".

"She's right Eren. I think the reason why our Father killed the Reiss family was because he was trying to save humanity from the First King. That's the reason why I was so behind him. Because it was for the greater good of humanity" Evelyn says as she looks at Eren, "he stole the Founding titan from Frieda, murdered all of the Reiss children, because he has no other choice. Because we had no other choice. What Father and I did was good, despite those who were killed and the lives that were ruined because of our decision. His words on that night make sense now, Eren. How he told you if you wanted to save Mikasa, Armin and everyone else, you'd have to learn to control your power. But what doesn't make sense is why I was so against Father giving you the power. Maybe Father and I had previously agreed he was going to give me the power, but then he went against me and decided you should be the one to take the power. I would never want you to ruin your life over something like this".

"That's right Eren" Armin says as he looks at Eren, "Doctor Jaeger wouldn't do something like that for no reason at all".

"Right. Even without having any Reiss blood, there must be a way to save humanity" Mikasa says as she looks at Eren, "that's why he left you and Evelyn the key to the basement".

"That makes life a little easier. Eren has the key, Eren lives" Levi says.

"If it means anything, I agree with that choice" Hange says as they look at Historia, "though, are you sure about this, Historia? We can't exactly have a titan like that wandering around inside of the walls. One that big, we can't restrain. Meaning... we'll have to kill your Father and there's no way around it".

"Eren. I'm sorry" Historia says as she looks at Rod, "underneath the Reiss chapel... I really considered becoming a titan and killing you. What's more, not even to save humanity... only because I wanted to believe my Father. I didn't want my Father to hate me... but now, it's time to say goodbye".

--- Orvud District ---

The Scouts arrive in Orvud district as Eren and Historia help Hange down from the carriage, Levi helping Evelyn down.

"Captain Evelyn, Captain Levi. Please gather your squad in the main hall" a soldier says as he comes over to the two of them, "the strategy meeting is about to begin".

"Alright" Evelyn says with a nod.

"Historia, forgot to tell you..." Levi says as he and Evelyn walk over to her, "we need you to do something. Erwin's orders. When this battle is over, since you're the true successor to the throne... become the Queen".

"Queen... Historia?" Sasha asks in disbelief from behind Historia.

"The coup d'état was successful, but the people won't follow a regiment sitting at the top" Levi says as he looks at Historia, "what we need is a story to spread. That a true heir retook the crown from the fake".

"Um, Captain?" Conny asks as he puts his hand up, "I'm sure you heard what Historia said earlier, but, well, uh... by leaving her Father, she finally broke free from that burden, I guess you could say... and yet, again... uh, um...".

"In other words, Conny's trying to say... Historia broke free from the Reiss family and has found herself" Jean says from behind Evelyn and Levi, "and now you're forcing her into another role? Isn't that not fair to her?".

"Alright" Historia says as she looks at Evelyn and Levi, "my next duty is to be Queen, right? Understood. Thanks for your concern you guys, but whether or not it's forced on me is up to me to decide, I think. However... Captain, I do have one condition. Since my fate is my own, I want to lay it all out on the line".

The squad make it into the meeting room as Evelyn and Historia come in, dressed in their Scout uniforms as they line up with the rest of their squad.

"When you're the Queen, you can punch that runt in the face" Mikasa whispers into Historia's ear.

"Go on. I won't stop you" Evelyn says with a smile.

"He deserves it" Sasha says as she looks over.

"We've determined the location of Rod Reiss' titan" Moblit says as he reads from a piece of paper, "it's Southwest, approaching Orvud. At this rate, it should reach Orvud District by dawn".

"Understood. Commander Erwin, we'd all like to hear what your plan is" Evelyn says as she looks over at Erwin, "how do you intend to evacuate the civilians in time?".

"We won't evacuate" Erwin says as he looks at Evelyn who smirks, "we'll have the citizens remain in Orvud District just as they are".