Part 1.2
"Sir!" Heather Campbell, sergeant of the Wall Maria Guard, stands at attention with her fist over her heart, saluting her commanding officer.
"At ease, Sergent." Captain Hanneth, acknowledging her salute with a nod. He looked out across the grassy plain stretching away from the the wall into the unknown distance. "Any sightings today?"
"Five, sir." She reported. "It's been a little busier than normal."
"Hmm." Hanneth frowned. "Well, stay prepared, I suppose. That's not enough to really worry about, but I never like it when activity is above average."
"Sir." Heather replied.
Hanneth gazed at the recruits manning the cannon watch over the gate. Those three had their last shift as recruits on the watch. It made him feel old, but also proud.
"Something else, sir?" Heather asked.
"Hm? Nothing." Hanneth said, turning away with a sigh. He smirked. "Going to check in on your mysterious wanderer once you get off shift?"
Turning her face away, lips pursed in annoyance she can't quite conceal, Sergeant Heather Campbell has learned not to rise to the bait. But, she must still answer the question truthfully. "Yes, sir." Even if the reason has completely changed, every day after work Heather Campbell checks on the new fort mechanic, Shirou Emiya.
"You're getting pretty close to him." Hanneth said. His voice is laden with meaning.
Even if she will not deny it, she will not admit it, either. "I'm just curious about him, sir."
"Hmn." Hanneth said, a chuckle in his voice. "Well, good luck." That at least was sincere.
"...thank you, sir." Heather said.
With a jaunty wave, the captain leaves. The sergeant is left with nothing to do except count down the hours until her relief, and then...
A burst of heat. A plume of smoke. Without warning, without any sign, having somehow snuck past every sentry, the great titan of fire is before them. The enemy is at the gates.
The titan raises its arm.
Heather Campbell grits her teeth and sinks into a stance, already shouting orders.
The arm crashes forward, blowing apart the cannon watch above the gate and scattering the recruits. A tremendous pendulum swing from the shoulder to the fist, crashing along the top of the wall and obliterating everything beneath it.
At the end of that arc, is one lone sergeant of the watch.
Smashed by the fist of the great titan, Heather Campbell's life ends in that stroke.
I I I
"Hey, Armin." With his right foot and right arm, he is holding open the jaws of the giant. "You... you taught my about the outside world. So I want to see it for--"
"Eren! Quick!" But Armin's words are too slow. The teeth clack shut.
A single arm is severed to spin towards the ground.
Eren has been devoured by a giant.
I I I
"Dammit!" He is the officer charged with maintaining the fort. Practically speaking, he is the quartermaster that is responsible for the efficient and smooth deployment of the 3-dimensional movement gear's compressed air canisters. He barely passed the mock combat exam. He receives only the minimum amount of continuing training. Because, Lieutenant Algers is not a combat soldier. He joined the army to eat, and possesses no exceptional talents. No-one recognizes this more fully than him. Supporting the combat troops from the rear, is the path he chose based on his own aptitudes.
Which means, this disaster before him is already beyond his ability. The gate has fallen and the town is under assault by giants.
His responsibility is the resupply of the deployed troops. His own soldiers are untested in real combat. And the concentration of humanity that makes up his noncombatant support staff that operates and maintains the compressors, is nothing more than bait.
Even if he is mediocre, he is not a coward. So Algers lead the assault against the giants storming the heart of the town, the fort.
"Dammit!" He repeated. Clutching the bleeding stump of his arm, having already lost half of the soldiers beside him, they have killed not even half of the giants present.
And more are coming.
Algers is crying. He is scared. Because, he will die. That was the first tear. Even as he clenched his jaw and desperately tried to think of a solution, his eyes continue to leak, because he can only think of all the comrades he is letting down. He cannot drag his mind away from the civilians he cannot protect.
"Sir... what should we do?"
He is not sure who asked that question. Standing on the corner of the fort, watching as giants approach, knowing that small specimens are already inside his building, Algers is without hope. He is without a plan.
He does not know what should be done. He can only pray for salvation.
And even as he struggles to answer that question, his prayers are answered.
Black and white, whirling twin fish spear out from the darkness of the building beneath him. Spinning like wheels, black and white ride out, and circle around. Where they meet, is the neck of an approaching giant. Where the twin fish touch, the flesh is cut. One above and one below, the twins cut the neck out of a giant.
Under their shocked gaze, an enemy has been cut down.
The whirling shapes trace back along each other's paths, closing the circle once more. And, stepping out of the building beneath them, at the closing of the second circle, is a man.
Tall, with red hear. The blue jumpsuit of a civilian mechanic is pulled down, the arms tied around his waist. Broad shoulders covered by the white undershirt. The new guy. Algers liked him because he was a good worker.
With a dance-like movement, he smoothly caught the twin flashes. They are, Algers realized, swords. Ancient blades, shaped like falchions. Not the mass-produced, high-destruction super-hardened steel loaded at his own hips.
In the same tempo the swords are caught, they are thrown out, darting fish-like once more in a new circle.
And they converged once more, on the neck of another giant.
Giants do not know fear. So, seeing two of their number cut down so smoothly, they did not cower, or flee. They only recognized that human meat is before them.
They charged.
Under Alger's bewildered gaze, the seven giants remaining converged.
One more was cut down by the flying swords.
And then, battle was joined at close range.
The outcome should have been obvious. Even if they were six-on-one with human odds, the one would be disfavored. And the six were giants--the enemy of humanity, predators that could kill and devour a human with ease. The difference in size is too great for a human to overcome.
But the obvious does not happen. Neither numbers nor size were too great for this human.
As the first giant lunged forward, the grasping hands are severed at the wrist, and the man stepped towards the open mouth. But with a great leap, he has planted his foot on the stooping shoulder of the handless foe. With an elegant spin, he has moved past the opponent's ear.
One hand high and one hand low. The nape of the neck is carved out. The man leaps away from the boiling corpse.
Black and white, the fish dart out to hunt once more.
But even as the twin blades cut apart the second throat, they are also in the man's hands. He severs the calf as he sprints between the legs too fast for those hands to catch, and then up along the fallen back. Before that one can recover, the third neck is carved up, and the fish circle back.
As the twin fish return to those hands, their doubles have already departed those hands.
The fourth giant is killed, beard and hair rolling in a spiral falling earthwards as the neck is destroyed by those flying swords.
Stepping forward strongly, the man flings his arms behind him, and those fish dart out once more to hunt the fifth neck. Unarmed, he slides between the reaching hands of the last giant. Leering, ten meters tall; the strongest, final opponent. Stepping forward strongly, he vaults over the left elbow and catches those two returning from hunting the bearded one. Even as he stamps the ground, his other foot steps strongly. White flashes down and black rises to meet it; that left arm is severed.
With an unkind smile, his eyes meet the eyes staring down from that grotesque face. Without lifting his hands, he simply watches as the teeth approach his position. He makes no motion to defend himself, as if to say such things are unnecessary.
White and black, the spinning fish return to their master. The giant between them and their goal is of no consequence. That monstrous flesh is cleaved as cleanly as the air.
The sixth giant falls and burns, and with one last motion, the man catches those fish in his hands.
Four swords. Between the fingers of his right hand, one black and one white; and between the fingers of his left hand, one white and one black.
The moment is frozen. Everyone is amazed by that man.
It was a miracle. One man, not one of the heros of the scouting legion, not even a soldier, has killed seven giants without the 3-D gear, without even the super-hardened swords. No, to say he has killed them is not enough. He has slaughtered them. And having witnessed that miracle, in the profound stillness of everyone's shock, Algers has one thought.
'What beautiful swords.'
"What was that!?" Shouts one of the soldiers. His voice is hoarse with disbelief. The spell is broken.
"Everyone!" Algers shouted, drawing their attention. "We have been granted a new chance! Don't blow it!" He released the stump, and the blood-soaked hand pointed. "Check the perimeter! Close the emergency doors! We can't let any other giants inside the fort!"
"What about the ones that are already inside?" This time, Algers was able to recognize the questioner. Mathers is a good soldier, and Algers detected no fear in that question.
"Kill them!" Algers roared. "Don't let any more giants inside, and slaughter every single one that has violated our fort!"
With a throaty cheer, with renewed hope, the soldiers swung out, gas jetting from their hips as they spun around the building to reclaim it. They have been granted a second chance. They have been saved from the slaughter; Algers will not allow this salvation to be wasted.
But there is something he must do. He swung down himself.
The swords were dangling from between his grasping fingers. His eyes were looking up at the wall, the shattered top showing the proof of the existance of the great titan.
"Boss, I'm sorry." He said, as Algers approached. "I'm afraid I've abandoned my post."
Algers chuckled. "Given the circumstances, I think I can forgive you."
Shirou Emiya turned, and met the eye of the man who employed him. "This city... how can we save everyone who lives here?"
Algers throat was dry. "That's," he hesitates, and can find no other word. "That's probably impossible. The gate has been smashed open, and giants are pouring in. We in the army will do our best to cover the evacuation, but the city has already been lost."
"What if that gate was closed?" Shirou asked, turning to once more gaze upon the kicked-in wall.
Algers shook his head. "There isn't any way to do that. If we could shut it, we could kill every giant inside and recover the city, but we simply don't have any way of shutting it. We... the best we can do is cover the retreat."
"I see." Shirou closed his eyes. He nods once. "Then, my path is clear." He began walking.
The question was obvious, so Algers asked it. "What are you going to do?"
Without looking back, Shirou Emiya answered over his shoulder. "I will stand before the gate, and without any exceptions, kill every giant that tries to come through."
"That's..." The word on his lips died. Compared to what he has already seen, he cannot say that it is impossible. "I see." Algers swallowed. "I'll, uh, pass that along."
Shirou laughed, and then he did turn to smile back at his boss. "Make sure you have a doctor look at that arm, while you're doing that."
Algers shrugged. "I'm pretty sure he won't be able to save it, but I will."
Chuckling, Shirou lifted his hand in a wave as he turned away. Two swords hang from that hand, flashing white and black in the sunlight.
Part 1.2 End
So I stuck an excerpt of the manga in to hint that Eren's going through the same trouble he did in canon; but, since Shirou crashed through the wall and said, "no, we're diverging now" in the middle of chapter five, I'm gonna have to be more explicit with what the Power Trio do next. That's the next bit.
I decided to go with "K+B Klassic" for the fight scene. Lemme know how you felt about that.