The tournament had been going smoothly, though nothing had particularly caught Eren's eye so far. He wasn't a fan of the gladiatorial nature of the tournament, and sitting amongst the crowd made him remember the contempt he had felt for the crowd that had witnessed his own match.He was mostly apathetic to the entire thing, and his eyes had started to droop in boredom when he heard Drake mumble from where he sat next to him.“Ha? Isn't that Elrond?”Eren perked up minutely, gazing down at the arena below them. Indeed, it seemed it was Elrond fighting against someone he didn't recognize.“Elrond? You recognize him?” Eren heard Samantha say, but he didn't listen to Drake’s response.Eren felt complicated emotions surge through him at the sight of the boy, who seemed to be losing against his opponent, a blond haired girl with some sort of prescience that let her predict his attacks. Elrond hadn't been one of Eren’s many bullies; far from it. He'd just been a classmate that had stood
Eren's heart pounded as he jumped from his seat and ran towards the battle field, the cacophony of screams and yells from terrified students ringing in his ears.His eyes scanned the chaos until they locked onto the figure of Justin in the midst of a fierce battle with Samantha and Drake. Without hesitation, Eren sprinted towards them, his muscles flooded and reinforced with MANNA as he weaved his way through the throng.He heard Sid and Gaine calling after him, but he ignored them.He saw when Drake raised his hand to strike Justin, and he knew at that moment that he wouldn't make it fast enough to stop Justin from countering."Watch out!" Eren shouted, but it was too late. Justin's powerful strike sent Drake stumbling backwards, staring dumbly at his mutilated arm.Eren's adrenaline surged and his body was filled with a nearly addictive energy as he launched himself at Justin, landing a well-aimed kick that knocked the wind out of the boy.He landed next to Samantha, who, recoveri
Incidents involving The Waker continued to plague the school and its surroundings. Students, fueled by the potent drug, were losing control, and the consequences were dire. Eren and his group had been tracking the situation, trying to stay one step ahead of the chaos. The Waker was their responsibility after all, since they were the one's to discover it in the first place. Making the Ten one of the leading response teams for Waker incidents had taken a bit of convincing, mostly of the higher-ups who were hesitant to grant such jurisdiction to what amounted to volatile teenagers. A little… pressure, one could say, had solved that for them. Mostly from those in their team who had important connections, and the political know-how to leverage such connections. So instead of being limited to investigating the incidents, they were now slated as first responders in case an incident happened somewhere close to them. Subduing the students didn't usually take much when they were all
With precision and stealth, the team managed to track down the designated location. All they had to do, then was wait for their target. Eren, who had been following them from a distance, could almost appreciate the way they were going about this. When the group finally huddled in a corner some distance away from the location, Samantha spoke; “We know you're there, Eren. Come on out.” Eren jumped, his heart pounding. How had they noticed? He approached them, thinking that staying back would be pointless. There was a question on his lips, but Gaine spoke first before he could. “Did you really think you were going to sneak up on us?” Gaine said, smiling. Drake snorted. “Snowflake is definitely stronger than he was before, but he's still just as stupid.” “Silence,” Samantha interrupted, gesturing towards the meeting point. A car was pulling over at the mouth of an alleyway, and some people in dark clothes walked out. Eren recognized them; gangsters. A man, who had been hidi
As Eren lost consciousness, he slipped into a dream. The scene around him changed and he found himself back in the arena. While the arena was notably a place of combat, it wasn't, this time. It was void of the people who usually stood on their feet and screamed at the top of their voices to celebrate a winner. And it was also void of the students fighting. “Hello.” Eren called out, but only his echo came back to him. He hadn't expected the arena to echo, but then it did and only meant the place was desolate as hell. Suddenly, a figure appeared before him in a hazy form, gradually becoming more vivid and solid. “Mother.” He called softly, looking a little shocked. Then her eyes turned as black as coal, her skin, gray and decaying. While this happened, Eren only looked at her in confusion. His eye balls danced up and down in his sockets as he took in the creepy image of his mother. Then she reached out her bony hand to him, urging him to come closer. Eren who was totally cr
Zachary and Diane dashed towards Jared before he could even say anything else, and a big fight ensued. While Zachary and Diane fought against Jared, Eren managed to control his MANNA which began to flow freely from his veins to the tip of his fingers. A surge of the MANNA then filled the strong chains like water going through a pipe. In a moment, the chain busted out in tiny sharp pieces that scattered everywhere and Eren was released. Samantha couldn't free herself with flames of fire as it would only burn against her skin more. Gaine was still too weak to reach out for his MANNA. Jared's power had really gotten to him. “Guys, are you okay?” Eren asked, looking concerned. “Yes we are. Just get this off us.” Samantha snapped irritably. Eren then concentrated on his MANNA. He could feel it flowing through his veins, and then rushing like each MANNA in each vein was in a race. Suddenly, it busted out, cracking like lightning and then he channelled it to the chains binding them a
The joint powers in which Eren and his team used was successful as it blew the Walkers away with a powerful force and they all fell to the ground, unable to stand for a while. Fortunately, other awakened arrived and they arrested the culprits, cuffing them to a really strong cuff just in case the extraordinary strength of the drug kicked in again. “Good work, Terror team. I saw your efforts and you really did well as a team.” Zachary complimented them with a smile on his face. “I'm glad you all took to your training and also were able to think fast in such a situation. You all did very well.” Miss Diane complimented them as well. The terror team all grinned, feeling really accomplished that they had managed to pull the case off. “So, what about Jared Khan? What do we do about him?” Eren suddenly asked, out of curiosity. “You have no right to speak about my father!” Drake bellowed as he shot a glare at Eren. “Drake, anyone who hears you speaking like this would think you're on yo
‘this which you have here stores and expels MANNA. That's how it supplies MANNA to the humans who possess it.’ As he returned to his dorm, Alice’s words echoed in Eren’s head. But the newfound information wasn’t enough to satisfy his curiosity about the gem. He felt that there was more to the device than met the eye. When he got to the dorm, he approached Samantha, who was in the living room, looking lost in space. “Hey. This is the result. We can make it into an official report before it's time to see Solvane.” Eren uttered as he handed her the file of Justin’s bloodwork. “Alright. Good work, Eren.” Samantha commended him as she nodded her head. Eren headed upstairs to his room. When he got in, he shut the door behind him and went to bed immediately. He couldn't wait to study more of the blue gem he found at the abandoned warehouse. He brought out the gem and stared at it with squinted eyes. “Why can't I seem to place a finger on where I have seen this before?” He asked h
“Samantha Dennin." A female security officer poked her head into the gymnasium of the Academy, looking around for her. “Lord William had requested your audience. Immediately."Samantha stood up abruptly, looked at the officer, and offered her a curt nod of affirmation before removing her gym towel from her neck and following the Security officer out of the gymnasium.The air outside the gym was crispy and cold. Samantha could hear winter’s whisper from the wind and the cold.She smiled as she breathed in the fresh air. She looked forward, and in the distance, she could see the towering building, The Titan, where William Winchester's office was. She was not at a loss about what was going to happen. The new academic session of Winchester Academy started a few days before, and she had hoped that she would be able to participate in it, but William Winchester hadn't said anything yet. For her, whatever William Winchester said would determine the course of her life.“Come in." She hear
It had been three days since the battle, and the Academy was still buzzed with the news of the Great Fight as the students tagged it. Construction started immediately after the fight, and students joined in to make it faster and more effective. The sun shone brighter, and the people were happier. As William had briefed the media, the enemy was incapacitated and wouldn't be coming back. While it shined sunshine and rainbows, doom spelled darkness in the deepest parts of the Academy prison yards. In a state-of-the-art prison, Silas sat, locked up by order of the Awakened judiciary, until his judgment. Vatican Sol was also locked with him. The only problem that the Academy had was the runaway father and son. Edward Dennin and his son, Trevor Dennin. Finding them was becoming a problem because of Edward Dennin's expertise in hiding. However, William made sure that the security team wouldn't rest until they found them both. This became their motivation to look harder and find
Zachary raised his head and was face to face with Silas. He desperately struggled to keep his breath going. He had held on for more than five minutes, waiting for nothing. He just wanted to keep Silas Homer busy so he would not pursue Eren. Eren stood around thirty steps away, transfixed. Zachary understood that he needed more time and was willing to help him obtain it. Zachary had two things that made him determined. The first one was that nothing would happen to his son for as long as he was conscious on the battlefield, and the second was that he wouldn't die until he explained the actual situation to his son.“You think you're all it?" Zachary asked, a disgusted look on his face. Silas's eyes widened like a madman's, obviously not accepting of what Zachary said. “I'm better than a weakling like you!" He shouted. “The world does not need weaklings. You all do nothing more than infest the world with your weakness. It's sickening.”Zachary rasped and chuckled, his face amused.
Night was fast approaching, but the fire of war still burned bright on the summit. Fights continued in different places and spots as MANNA burst forth in various ways and diverse strengths. Despite the bloody battlefield, the colors in the sky splashed out in equipoise. The blues and green and orange, the sky prided itself in its contrast to the mortality of men. The sky looked upon the men of the ground with pity as they stole life from one another and sent their souls to nowhere.Eren Trost ran into the battlefield with a roar of rage and snatched the Helm of Tyrants from Silas Homer, yanking it from his head. The older man didn't notice that a few of his hair was torn along with it. His pride and trust in the Helm of Tyrant were going to be his doom, and he didn't know it yet. Slowly, the great level of MANNA, which was running through his veins and synced with blood, left him. Realizing that he had been rid of the power he depended on, Silas Homer looked around in haste, des
The day was beginning to bleed into the evening, but the fighting field retained its activity. Jared Khan was faced by his children at the eastern end of the fighting field. Kathlyn had her hand on her hip as she faced her father, angrily questioning him about his decisions.“Dad! You don't have to do this.” She ran towards him to stop him from hurting innocent people. Jared Khan ignored them and tossed the guard he had just beaten up, who had slumped to the side. After he saw that the space around him was empty and no guard or soldier was standing that he could attack or fight with, he reluctantly faced his children.“Father, " Drake started. “Why are you doing this?” He transformed back and stood behind his sister, hoping that she could knock him back into reality.Drake had always believed Kathlyn to be their father's favorite. Growing up, she always got their father's love and attention, which was different from his experience. Drake hoped that his sister's being more loved
Eren kept his gaze on Sid. Not out of caution but to seek his little bit of regret. But he got nothing. Despite his rage and anger-infused questions, Sid didn't respond; he just retained his blank, emotionless look, further enraging Eren.“Say something!" Eren shouted again, hoping Sid would respond and, at the least, tell him why he was doing what he was. Why did he choose to follow Silas despite his sinister plans to destroy the Awakened society and the world as they knew it?Despite Eren's hurt, which he deliberately ignored to focus on restoring his image, finding Silas, returning the Helm of Tyrants, and finding the truth behind his mother's death, he wanted to believe that Sid wasn't doing it voluntarily. He wanted to believe that he had a reason why he betrayed his trust and followed Silas“I have nothing to say to you, Eren," Sid said, unsheathing his daggers tucked in the leather pouch. Eren's face slowly pulled into a confused frown, and he wracked his head, trying to
A dark cloud covered the sun and enveloped the area in the seminar hall, making it look like the evening. MANNA glowed in diverse colors in different spots and places as the Awakened society attacked one another. The Awakened who followed Silas came rushing into the arena, and William's trained soldiers attacked them with power and strength on par with Silas's Awakened. Flashes of sword fights and MANNA shots filled the seminar ground. The dark cloud that covered the sun slowly peeled off its surface, revealing the faces of each person to their opponent.The thrill of victory dried off Eren's nerves as he ran to the fighting ground, his heart beating hard as he approached the middle of the fight. He could see William's braided white hair in the distance, and he rushed to the scene, stopping about twenty steps behind him to get a clearer vision from the proximity. A smirk grew on his lips as he counted; he realized that they had more numbers than Silas's team. William and other p
On the night before the summit, the Academy held its breath in dread and anxiety. Despite the preparations that had been made, the question of the uncertainty of what could happen still lingered in the air.The Helm of Tyrants was the most feared trinket in the Academy, so it was kept safe in the Academy Head’s office, the safest place on the Academy grounds, second only to the Academy vault. The uncertainty of the next day kept William in the middle of his office by 8 p.m., pacing a hole in the ground.William walked to the northern end of his office, where the transparent glass wall was, and looked out of the window; the north side of the Academy was completely open to him. Thoughts of what could happen the next day filled his mind. He thought of thousands of scenarios in which they won and a million in which they lost. His father had spoken to Zachary and him since they were teenagers about the Helm of Tyrants and its great power. In the wrong hands, the world as they know it
Drake sat opposite the large window in his Academy dorm room, his hands intertwined behind his head as he rocked the wooden dorm chair. Sighing for the fourth time in a minute, he brushed one hand through his hair, the dirty blonde shining a hue of gold as the morning sun streamed into his room when the clouds cleared off it.“Ugh," He groaned, his hands sliding down his face, muffling his voice. This is sweet hell, he thought and stood up abruptly, causing the chair to tip back and almost fall. Drake swiftly held it back and positioned it to face his desk, the chair frame now facing away from the window.Drake stood up to check the window. The glass was completely transparent, giving him a clear view of what was going on on the ground floor. It was bustling with activities. Drake perceived it as preparations for Silas Homer’s suspected plan to destroy the major clan leaders and senators all at once during the nation's leaders' summit, which was a few days away.He used animal he