Attack on Titan: Power of 12 Titans

Chapter 27

On top of Wall Sina, Erwin, Hange, Moblit, Levi, and the 104th ones are there. Erwin says, "This should be fairly private. It's highly unlikely anyone will be able to eavesdrop on us up here."

"Good." Eren says, "Centuries ago, the power of the Titans was under the control of a nation known as the Eldian Empire. The Eldians used the Titans as weapons of mass destruction to conquer other nations, wiping out countless cultures in the process. Eventually, the Eldians ran out of enemies and began fighting each other, which causes the downfall of the empire."

Aya says, "However, 100 years ago, the 145th king of the Empire, Karl Fritz, believed that Eldia's sins cannot be atoned for and that Eldians and Titans should not have existed in the first place. Beyond the ocean, there is a nation known as Marley, Karl Fritz teamed up with an Eldian family who possesses one of the 12 Titans, and fabricated a Marleyian hero to destroy the Eldian Empire."

Everyone is silent as they have a hard time processing everything. Katrina continues, "They succeeded and Marley gained nine of the 12 Titans as a result. The King moved the capital to Paradis Island, Eldia's last remaining territory, and gathered as many Eldians as he could on the island. One of the Titans that the King holds is the Founding Titan, the strongest of them all. With its powers, he uses millions of Colossal Titans to form three walls: Maria, Rose, and Sina."

"So that's how the walls are made..." Hange gasps.

"But millions of Colossal Titans?" Armin asks, "Bertolt is already hard to deal with, but millions of them..."

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Jean mutters.

"And that's not just it. After building the walls, the King turned Paradis into a hermit kingdom, cut off from the rest of the world. In order to guarantee temporary peace for the people inside the walls, the king left behind a warning to the rest of the world. He said that if his peace was ever disturbed, he would unleash the Wall Titans, and use them to trample the earth. This is also known as the Rumbling."

"So that's why you're saying about killing 80% of the population?" Armin asks with horror.

"The other nations see that as a threat, and that's why they have Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie attack Wall Maria..." Aya frowns. "They believe that Paradis is a ticking time bomb and that it's only a matter of time before the Wall Titans are released. Consequently, they want to eliminate this threat. The other reason is they want to recover the Founding Titan. While Marley has managed to stay a world superpower because of the power of the Titans, the world is changing. It won't be long before conventional weapons will surpass the power of the Titans. In order to maintain their position in the world, they need to take back the Founding Titan."

"Tch..." Levi mutters. "So that's why they want to kidnap Eren because of the power..."

Mikasa asks, "But where did you get the Founding Titan in the first place?"

"Before I answer that, I want to say about the Founding Titan and the current government. Because of a vow the King made 100 years ago. While he threatened to trample the world, this was never his true intention. It was merely an empty threat meant to buy himself temporary peace. He made a vow of renouncing war. The Founding Titan's true power can only be used by one of royal blood. But because of the vow the King made, all of his descendants who inherit the power of the Founding Titan cannot use it, as they are bound by his will. The King knew that sooner or later the Walls would be attacked, and he planned to allow everyone inside the walls to die in order to atone for all the bloodshed the Eldian Empire had caused in the past." Eren says.

Everyone is stunned at this news. Armin thinks, "All of them...Eren's mother...my grandfather...all of them died...all of them died...because of something our ancestors did? Something we didn't even remember? What kind of person..."