A Promise (An Attack on Titan Fanfic: Erwin Smith)

The Final Operation II

Erwin watched, from the top of the outer wall, as the rain of crushed rocks barreled through the houses in a cacophony of cannon-like barrage. At that moment, he finally caught what the enemy was planning.

"Frontal bombardment!" He warned his soldiers who were down at the village. "Troops, take cover!"

Following his caution, another batch of rocks came crashing through the houses, eradicating everything in its path. Even from where Erwin was standing, he could make out blood mixing in with the dust and debris, separated limbs of his soldiers flying.

He could hear cries of panic from the recruits below. Erwin lifted his gaze towards the beast titan, who had picked up another boulder and crushed it in its grip as it went into a stance.

So this is your plan all along..

Erwin looked at the front of the village that was now completely leveled, rubbles of the houses cluttered in remnants. That was where the veteran squads were gathered.

And last time he knew, Isanna had been around the area.

He involuntarily tightened his jaw at the thought, swirls of devastating scenarios flowing into his mind. Isanna had been there. She'd been fighting with the other squads, cleaning the titans up front—he realized that had also been a part of the enemy's plan: gathering their more competent soldiers in one area to strike them in one blow.

Because of that, the earlier bombardment—

Erwin stopped his own thoughts.

His thumb felt for the ring on his finger, finding something to calm him down, anything, to keep him focused.

There was the knowledge that somewhere down there, Eren's basement stood, lying in wait for someone to discover its secrets, hanging at the back of his mind.

Perhaps if he were a more selfish man, he'd abandon the mission and doom humanity for good. But..

Erwin faced towards the beast titan, towards his soldiers who were fighting for their lives below, towards the direction of the village where he last knew Isanna had been—and he knew he was not abandoning any of them.

After another barrage of thrown rocks, he scaled down the wall and landed where Levi had the new recruits gather.

"Commander!"

Levi, who'd been trying to get a fear-stricken recruit to stand up, turned to Erwin at his arrival. The look on his face was anything but pleasant, not that he was one to wear a pleasant face to begin with, but Levi knew they were in some deep shit—most likely, even deeper than all their previous ones, which was a feat. I still don't know what happened to Isanna's group..

"How's the situation?"

Levi watched the somber expression on Erwin's face as the latter turned to where the shredded rocks were flying from. All around them, smashes of collisions boomed from every direction, and the recruits screamed for their lives.

"It's the worst situation possible," Erwin finally said, brows tugging together, gaze still ahead where he estimated Isanna should be at. "If he keeps this up, the place will be leveled and we'll have nowhere to hide."

Levi tried suggesting ways for a retreat, all of which Erwin countered, explaining the flaws of every possible method.

"We've taken massive losses," Erwin added. "The beast titan most likely controlled the smaller titans to herd our soldiers into one location. They were.. most likely wiped out by the first bombardment."