The attack plan designed by Erwin to expose Marley's last intelligent Titan was very simple.
Erwin understood that they did not have the luxury of time.
A prolonged campaign would give Marley the opportunity to reorganize, hide the War Hammer Titan's holder, or evacuate them far from the battlefield.
If they wanted to obtain that power, they had to force the enemy to react immediately.
The operation had to begin and end on the same day.
The objective was never to conquer Marley.
The objective was to shake its foundations within a matter of hours.
Marley had built its image as an invincible power thanks to the Titans.
Its citizens believed that no nation could challenge their warriors. Its generals were accustomed to being the ones who imposed fear upon others.
Erwin planned to reverse that reality.
The Titans under Paradis' control would appear simultaneously at different strategic locations.
The Beast Titan would bombard military installations and troop concentrations. The Cart Titan would transport supplies, explosives, and special forces reinforcements between fronts at a speed impossible for any conventional army.
Other Titans would attack ports, railway stations, arsenals, and command centers.
This would not be an invasion.
It would be a demonstration of power.
A storm so sudden that Marley would have no time to understand what was happening.
Erwin knew that communications would collapse.
Railway lines would be destroyed.
Troops would be mobilized in every direction.
The government would receive contradictory reports coming from dozens of locations at the same time.
Chaos would become Paradis' greatest ally.
As citizens watched smoke rising over their cities and saw Titans advancing across their territory, the myth of Marleyan invulnerability would begin to crumble.
Erwin knew that fear was contagious.
And no nation was immune to panic.
The pressure would immediately fall upon the military high command.
Soldiers would be deployed to contain the crisis. However, every minute that passed without a clear victory would increase the feeling of desperation.
Then the decisive moment would arrive.
The appearance of the War Hammer Titan.
It was exactly the response Erwin hoped to provoke.
Not because the War Hammer could change the outcome of the battle, but because its appearance would reveal where the true target was.
The entire operation had been designed around that moment.
The chaos.
The destruction.
The simultaneous attacks.
Everything was a carefully constructed stage designed to force the enemy to reveal its most valuable card.
And the moment they did, the Founder would act.
Not to fight.
Not to win the battle.
But to immobilize the War Hammer Titan for a few critical moments.
At that instant, a previously concealed assault force would spring into action.
Veterans selected specifically for that mission.
Soldiers equipped with ODM gear capable of crossing a battlefield dominated by Titans.
Their task would be simple.
Ignore the fighting.
Ignore the other warriors.
Ignore the destruction.
Reach the holder.
Extract them.
And escape.
The battle would continue around them, but for Erwin, it would already be over.
Because the true objective had never been to destroy Marley.
It was to prove that even the most powerful empire in the world could be forced to expose its secrets within a matter of hours.
Marley believed that Titans were the reason for its greatness.
That was why Erwin would use those very same Titans to strip away the most valuable weapon it possessed.
In a single day, the world would witness how the warriors who had spent decades spreading terror across other nations were incapable of protecting their own homeland.
And when the sun set, Paradis would withdraw carrying something far more valuable than a military victory: the power of the War Hammer Titan.
...
Marley, Cape City Harbor.
Boom!
"I must not fear."
"Fear is the mind-killer."
"Fear is the little death that brings total annihilation."
"I will face my fear."
"I will permit it to pass over me and through me."
All the elite warriors, who had sworn to fight for true freedom, found a truth in those words that Gale had shared with them.
And Gale, who knew that this time they held the advantage thanks to Erwin, remembered that fateful decision to discard a general as capable as that man.
Replacing Erwin had been, at least in Gale's opinion, a terrible idea.
In this life, regardless of whether it was a different timeline, Gale would do whatever he believed was most appropriate.
And today, more than ever, he was close to achieving his goal.