"Commander! Are you alright?" Miniko and Ian were still injured themselves, but the moment the rescue troops arrived, they rushed to save Pixis.
However, given Commander Pixis's prestige within the military, even the coup Military Police didn't dare do anything to him. So Pixis sat calmly in his cell, as if he had long been certain that the Imperial Faction's coup would fail.
But in another cell, Zackly didn't receive such treatment. The nobles who had been purged and brought down by Zackly's ruthless crackdown earlier would never miss this opportunity. By the time the Garrison troops broke open the cell, Zackly was barely clinging to life—his entire body covered in injuries, a miserable sight.
The nobles who had just rejoiced over the coup hadn't even had a full day before bad news struck. Large numbers of soldiers arrested all these unrepentant nobles, and this time, they likely wouldn't have another chance to stir up trouble. The execution ground would probably be their final destination.
Perhaps sensing their fate, many nobles struggled desperately, shouting curses toward the royal palace. They cursed Arno and those bastards for their incompetence—why hadn't they obtained the power of the Founder yet after so long? They cursed Historia as a useless puppet and condemned the shamelessness of the council.
Bang!! Cracks like a spiderweb spread across the gray-white wall. Yago's expression was dark, his fists clenched tight, veins bulging on the back of his hands—he was clearly on the verge of extreme fury.
"Yago, don't… don't be too impulsive. Aunt Lucia will be fine." Annie looked worried when she saw Yago's rage.
But a flash of crimson brutality flickered in Yago's eyes as he said coldly,
"Those bastards dared to hurt my mother! I'm going to kill them all!"
When the coup Military Police had come in force to arrest Eren's mother Carla, Lucia naturally couldn't stand by and do nothing. But she was only an ordinary woman—how could she possibly stop those vicious Military Police?
She was beaten until her head was bloodied. After they took Carla away, it was Mr. Leonhart who happened to pass by, noticed something wrong, and immediately took Lucia to the hospital.
So when Yago rushed back to the capital, he learned that his mother had been beaten and hospitalized. That instantly enraged him. The Yago who had still been thinking about how to suppress the Imperial Faction's coup exploded with fury—now he only wanted to tear those Imperial Faction scum apart with his bare hands!
...
At the same time, inside the royal palace.
Everyone stood frozen in place as Arno stared at Historia's wound slowly being healed by Titan power, a new tender white hand regrowing.
In the end, Historia's injuries were completely healed. Arno swiftly cut open the restraints binding her and tossed the dagger in his hand in front of her, signaling for her to act.
Everyone's gaze immediately focused on Historia, including Eren. Compared to the others, however, Eren was much calmer and didn't resist violently. In his heart, he believed in Historia's choice.
Carla looked at her son in despair. If Eren died, what meaning would her life have left after losing both her husband and her child?
Sometimes, Eren even wished that on that day at the Reiss Manor, he had been eaten by Historia. After all, bearing the power of a Titan was never a good thing, and the thirteen-year lifespan was nothing but a curse.
Although Eren was straightforward, even the most straightforward man is still a man—not a fool, nor a eunuch. Facing repeated hints from his family and from the girl he loved, Mikasa, Eren actually understood everything. But the reason he didn't respond was simple—he only had five years left.
Five years… trade five years for Mikasa's entire life? Wouldn't that be too selfish? Eren had asked himself—did he love Mikasa? The answer was obvious. That was precisely why he didn't want Mikasa to spend a lifetime grieving for him after five years. That would be too selfish.
"No! I can't do this!" Historia firmly refused Arno.
Arno seemed to have expected this. With a vicious kick, he sent Historia crashing to the ground. His previously calm expression turned ruthless.
"I knew it. Just look at that weak, cowardly face of yours! You deserve to be trash! Just like that Rod Reiss—both of you are useless! The same blood runs through your veins—it makes me sick! If you won't do it, then I will!" Arno snarled, pulling out a syringe from his coat and drawing all the liquid from the bottles into it.
As Arno aimed the syringe at his own neck, hope flashed in the eyes of Nacke and Hermann from the Imperial Faction.
"Brother! Don't!" A sorrowful cry stopped Arno in his tracks. It was Historia's voice. That simple word—"brother"—made Arno freeze, his whole body trembling, as if even his soul had quivered.
It seemed like a resonance from bloodline. When Historia called out "brother," Arno felt his eyes sting.
Yes… by blood, he and Historia shared the same royal blood. They had the same father. That made him her brother, didn't it?
Back when the young Arno had witnessed his prostitute mother's swollen corpse floating in a filthy gutter, he had long severed any thought of having a family. He had always considered himself an orphan. During training, whenever his comrades happily went home on rest days, Arno would remain alone in the dormitory, staring blankly.
At graduation, when fellow trainees who joined the Military Police excitedly embraced their families, he—ranked first in his class—could only stand off to the side, watching in a daze.
Family… to Arno, it was an unfamiliar word. Yet thinking about it filled him with both longing and fear.
Arno slowly turned his head mechanically to look at Historia. She looked back at him with teary eyes. That expression… anyone who saw it would feel heartache.
"Brother, the power of the Founder isn't meant to rule the world—it's a lie. If such power truly existed, then why, for a hundred years, did successive Founders just sit in the capital and watch the people suffer under the Titans? Please, brother, don't do this," Historia pleaded, her eyes brimming with tears.
Calling him "brother" had been instinctive for Historia. Perhaps Arno wasn't the only one who longed for family.
Arno suddenly felt his throat go dry—so dry he couldn't speak. With effort, he forced out a few words,
"Y-you… what did you call me?" The hand holding the syringe unconsciously lowered.
Bang! Before either of them could react, the doors of the great hall were violently blasted open, and another group of people stormed in.
"You are… the Marleyan Volunteer Army? What are you doing?" Nacke recognized their leader, Yelena—and the person behind her shocked him even more.
Zeke! As a former core member of the Eldian Restorationists, Nacke naturally recognized Zeke, the one who had once carried their hopes, only to nearly destroy the Restorationists in the end.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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