Don't blame Yago for being scared. Last time they met, she treated him like a bouncing ball and nearly shook his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys into a mixed stew.
Now that Ymir was looking over, how could Yago not feel uneasy? What if she did it again?
But just as Yago was feeling restless, a smile suddenly appeared on Ymir's calm face.
That's right! A smile!
Yago was stunned. What the hell—Ymir, who had been indifferent for two thousand years, was actually smiling! She actually smiled? What kind of situation was this? Even in older Eren's memories, Yago had never seen Ymir smile (the head-crushing scene didn't count—that was when Eren had already passed on).
But the moment Ymir smiled, Yago panicked. If he could move, he would have already scrambled away as fast as possible. After worrying for a long time, it turned out Ymir was simply smiling. Seeing that she had no intention of making a move, Yago finally relaxed.
...
On the other side, Zeke, who had been completely ignored by Ymir, couldn't take it anymore. Although his body couldn't move, his mouth still worked, and he kept shouting about how he had royal blood and that Ymir should obey his commands.
But Zeke's shouting was completely and elegantly ignored by Ymir. In fact, perhaps annoyed by how noisy he was, she grabbed a handful of sand from the ground, dampened it, and directly smeared it over Zeke's mouth.
In the blink of an eye, Zeke's voice disappeared. In the middle of his golden beard, where his mouth used to be, there was now only a smooth patch of skin.
Zeke: "! Mmm! Mmmmmm!"
This scene made Eren and Yago's hearts tremble. The two immediately shut their mouths tightly, not daring to disturb Ymir, afraid she might seal their mouths too.
The world instantly fell into silence. With no more noise, Ymir nodded in satisfaction, then picked up her small bucket and turned to leave.
At the same time as Founder Ymir left, Yago, Eren, and Zeke all found their bodies uncontrollably standing up and following behind her.
Everything before their eyes suddenly became blurred, like watching scenery rapidly pass by from a speeding train. Even though Yago felt like he was just walking at a normal pace, in the blink of an eye, the three of them followed Ymir to another sand dune.
Unlike the previous dune filled with sand-built Colossal Titans, this one also had countless Titans made of sand, but most of them were of normal height, with only around a hundred Colossal Titans.
Moreover, there were all kinds of bizarre Titans—some looked like they were made of huge chunks of rock, some appeared to be clad in armor, some crawled on all fours with flattened heads, and others had the heads of different animals: crocodile Titans, wolf-headed Titans, leopard-headed Titans, goat-headed Titans...
When he saw that familiar goat-headed Titan, Zeke froze. Though he no longer had a mouth to speak, his eyes had already grown moist.
Teacher Ksaver...
Eren stared at the nearly thousand Titans before him, utterly shocked.
"What are these?"
Yago stepped forward. Upon arriving at this sand dune, their bodies had regained freedom.
"These are probably… the intelligent Titans of past generations."
At the very front of the many intelligent Titans stood more than a dozen Titans. Ymir's destination, bucket in hand, was right there. Yago and Eren exchanged a glance, then quickly followed after her.
Though they didn't know why, it seemed that Zeke's Eldian euthanasia plan had completely fallen apart. Ymir simply paid him no attention.
...
Over there, Zeke had been moved while looking at Teacher Ksaver's goat-headed Titan, but when he turned around, he realized Yago and Eren had already followed Ymir far away. Instantly, a deep sense of desolation filled his heart.
He couldn't understand.
Why?
How could this be?
Why wouldn't the Founder obey the commands of royal blood?
Had everything he and Teacher Ksaver researched been nothing but a joke?
Unwilling to accept it, Zeke chased after Founder Ymir.
No matter what, even if he failed, he had to understand why!
...
"This is—!"
Yago stared at the Titans before him in shock. Though they were all made of sand, Ymir's craftsmanship was flawless—each one was incredibly lifelike.
On the row to the right, Yago could easily recognize them:
Eren's Attack Titan, Annie Leonhart's Female Titan, Historia's royal-blood Jaw Titan, Floch's Colossal Titan, Reiner's Armored Titan, Zeke's Beast Titan, Pieck's Cart Titan, and Lara Tybur's War Hammer Titan.
As for the row on the left, that was what surprised Yago.
His own Fate Titan, Airi's Sea-Diving Titan, Porco's Claw Titan, Ivanor's Paladin Titan, Litt's Airwing Titan, Bazel's Fortress Titan, Bill's Silver-Split Titan, a Crimson Flame Titan that looked different from before, that bastard Ebson's disgusting Skeleton Titan, and finally the last Skeleton Titan—Yago couldn't help but feel a trace of personal anger.
Before, Yago might not have paid attention to certain details, but now that these two rows of Titans were laid out before him, he noticed quite a lot.
The Founder's power resided within Eren, so that Attack Titan represented two Titans.
In other words, the row on the right represented the Nine Titans.
And the row on the left had exactly the same number—nine.
Nine artificial Titans.
The number of artificial Titans perfectly corresponded to the Nine Titans.
Was this a coincidence?
Yago didn't think so.
Vaguely, he began to form some guesses. Perhaps the answers to everything about these artificial Titans could only be known by that bastard Ebson.
...
Ymir, carrying her small bucket, walked to the sand-made Fate Titan at the very front of the left row.
Not to boast, but among this group of Titans, in terms of appearance alone, his Fate Titan really was the most striking—especially compared to that pile of rotten bones!
Ymir seemed quite satisfied with the Fate Titan as well. She turned to glance at Yago, then beckoned him over.
Yago pointed at himself.
"Me??"
Whoosh!
Yago's vision blurred, and in an instant, his entire body teleported right in front of Ymir.
Zeke also appeared at the same time—he had been chasing just moments ago, but with a flash before his eyes, he suddenly found himself standing in front of her, completely confused.
Ymir didn't hold back. Her small hand directly pierced into Zeke's chest.
However, since this was within the Paths, there was no bloody scene. There was simply a black void where Zeke's chest had been pierced.
Her hand rummaged inside Zeke's chest for a moment before pulling out a cluster of purple light.
Holding the glowing mass, Ymir looked toward Yago again.
Yago immediately clutched his chest.
"Ymir! Don't!"
But she had no intention of sparing him.
With a sharp motion, Yago's chest was also opened. Unlike Zeke, however, six clusters of light were pulled out from his chest.
White, gold, blue, green, brown, yellow.
(A/N: Do you still remember who each of these lights represents?)