[A/N: Here's the rewrite. Let me know if you liked it more now. Thank you all for the support!]
[3045 words]
*STAB*
Due to the fact that Gabriel jumped from 10 meters high, the knife's blade easily penetrated through the flesh, pierced the skull and impaled itself on Bertolt's brain. This might not have killed him due to the Shifters' insane healing factor, but it made him collapse on the ground with a limp body.
'Gotta run now! I'm NOT prepared to fight against Reiner and the girl. If they turn into Titans they can destroy me in less time than I can blink!' Gabriel quickly thought and used all of the power on his legs to run behind the tree he had jumped from. Fortunatelly, the girl and Reiner didn't see him yet.
Reiner was almost panicking and started to run away because a Titan had just appeared out of nowhere, but when Reiner turned his head to call for Bertolt, he only saw his body on the ground with a growing puddle of blood beneath it. The girl was following him, running, but wasn't scared or panicked in the least.
"HUH?! BERTOLT!!!!" Reiner screamed as he stopped moving.
From Reiner's loud scream, the girl's attention was also shifted to Bertolt,
"!" She didn't say anything, but her face revealed her emotions, she was clearly surprised.
'What happened?! How did Bertolt pass out?! Where did that knife come from?...Is there someone else here?!' The girl started to wonder.
"REINER! WE NEED TO FIGHT AGAINST THIS TITAN! IT'S OUR ONLY CHANCE OF SAVING BERTOLT! IF HE ISN'T WITH US THEN WE CAN'T GET THE FOUNDER! THERE MIGHT BE SOMEONE ELSE HERE, SO BE CAREFUL!" The girl screamed at the dazed Reiner.
Brought back to reality by the girl's words, Reiner replied, "A-Alright! We need to turn!"
The girl and Reiner nodded at each other and brought their right hands close to their mouth.
'We'll save you, Bertolt!' Reiner made it clear in his mind.
Closing their jaws with the strenght necessary to penetrate their skin, blood started to drip out of their hands followed by a bust of yellow lightning that encircled their bodies.
*KRAKOOOOOM!*
2 massive yellow lightning bolts fell from the sky and hit Reiner and the girl, but instead of killing them, it started to generate the bodies of 2 Titans along with a gust of hot steam.
'I NEED TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!' Gabriel realized after he saw the scene of Reiner and the girl turning.
He took advantage of the seconds that it took for them to turn and started running towards the deeper parts of the forest. The many trees and leaves also helped him not get seen by obstructing the view from up-top, making it hard for Reiner and the girl to see him in their Titan forms.
The girl, now in full Titan form, looked extremely threatening. Her overall physique and facial features remained mostly the same, but were now in the body of a 14 meter tall giant. Her body mostly consisted of exposed muscle tissue with very little skin coverage. Her face was laden with muscle lining, notably underneath her cheeks, which allowed her to open her mouth far more than humanly possible. Her Titan body had a lean build with visible muscle definition, making her physically fit and strong.
Reiner on the other hand looked even more menacing. With a 15 meter tall body, Reiner's Titan earned the moniker of 'Armored Titan' due to the many plates of hardened skin that covered his entire body, boosting his defense to insane levels. He maintained the short hair that he had, but now instead of blonde, it was silver. Interestingly enough, even though his body was mostly entirely covered in plates of hardened skin, his joints weren't, which allowed him to be extremely agile and capable of moving at a fast speed.
Seconds after their transformation, the girl started to swiftly run towards the Titan that had eaten the swept-back haired kid while Reiner went towards the fainted Bertolt.
'This Titan has already eaten Marcel! I can't kill it and risk losing the Jaw! Shit!' The girl thought as she neared the small Titan.
With extreme ability and precision, she moved her body masterfully and kicked the Titan on the face with her right leg, making it fly meters away.
Reiner had already reached Bertolt's position, so he grabbed him from the ground and kept him inside his left hand.
He then looked at the Titan that the girl kicked and saw that it was lying on the ground, trying to get up from the powerful strike.
'Annie sure is strong!' Reiner admired the girl's kick, 'If that Titan already ate Marcel, we need to get it on our side after whoever is inside the Titan gets out!'
Meanwhile all of this was happening, Gabriel was quickly running back to the forest, worried that Reiner and co. might find him.
'Crap! I was completely unprepared for this! I got too cocky thinking that I could stop them by simply killing one of them, but I didn't even manage to do that!' He thought as he continued running.
Hearing the loud sounds of footsteps made by Reiner and the girl, Gabriel started to run even quicker, worried that maybe they'd attract wild Titans towards them.
'How can I even complete this mission! It's too hard! It's better if I just give up now than risk dying due to my actions!.... At least now I know my mistakes! Fuck gaming! I need to watch as many movies, animes and tv-shows as possible to get the knowledge necessary to actually survive in these worlds and to formulate a solid plan. I was too arrogant!' He acknowledge his dumb mistakes.
As he neared the deeper parts of the forest, he saw that he had unconsciously arrived at the tree where he had slept at for the night.
Running up to the tree's trunk, Gabriel picked up the shovel and dug out his backpack. He couldn't stay here anymore. Not when there were 2 Titan Shifters near him making a lot of noise that could possibly draw more Titans towards them.
Quickly grabbing his bag from the ground, Gabriel continued on his way, paying attention to his surroundings so as to not run into a Titan.
After 30 straight minutes of running, Gabriel stopped by a random tree and sat down near it.
"I should already be a good distance away from Reiner now...ahh..." He breathed a sigh of relief, "Here I was thinking I could just laze around waiting for my first mission to arrive..... Ha, what an idiot I was."
*zzzzzzzhhhhhhhh*
He suddenly felt his phone vibrate on his pocket.
Taking it out, Gabriel saw that the application that showed the countdown from the mission was already open, and now demonstrated a new option.
[Time left until Shiganshina Attack]
[11:41:22]
[Give up and return to universe]
[Yes / No]
[A/N: removed the likelihood percentage. It was a dumb stat to begin with. If it showed 70% chance of it happening, he could complete the mission if the 30% actually happened, so yeah.]
"Oh..." He was taken back from this new option, "Maybe this is the right call. It's my fault to begin with...my lack of research, preparation and planning has led to this. It's better if I return and prepare myself diligently for the next mission than stay here and try to accomplish the impossible... I wonder what will happen if I fail this mission..."
Spending some time trying to decide on whether he should stay in this world or go home, the sun started to come up from his back, bathing the dark forest in a dim and beautiful orange color.
"Well, it's now or never," He brought the phone back to his hands, "Looks like the first mission was a catastrophic failure... I could try to follow Reiner, but they already know that there's someone else outside the walls with them, so the moment they see me, I'm dead. If I tried to talk to them and persuade them to not go ahead with their plan, it wouldn't work because they're too deep into their plan's execution already, they won't just give up now. Maybe they will because Bertolt is in a bad condition and that other kid was eaten, but that's a gamble I'm not willing to make. I could also try to enter the walls and if I managed to do it, scream that Titans were coming like a madman. From what I read, those walls have been standing tall for 100 years, so the people inside them must have a lot of faith in them, meaning that my word will mean nothing. I could also try to speak with the upper echelon of people inside the walls, but would they actually be willing to hear what a nobody has to say?... Yeah, this mission was an utter failure...wait!"
Realizing something that he had forgot, he stuffed his hands inside his right pocket and removed the 2 Ability pills.
"I still have these 2 bad boys!" His mood instantly did a 180, "The nigh-immortality one won't help me in this scenario because Titans don't slash or cut me, they stomp me, meaning that the pill won't have a chance to work. The Attention pill though is another case altogether.... I don't know how it works, but based on my guess, it should work almost like a small mind-control. I can shift a target's attention to something else. I wonder if I can shift Reiner's attention towards that girl and make them fight each other.....honestly, it's my best, least dangerous option. I have to at least try this before giving up! Those mission rewards are just too juicy for me to give up without even trying this!"
Determining that this was his best shot at having a chance to complete the mission, he chugged the pill in the air and waited for it to drop in his mouth.
*gulp*
Swallowing the pill, Gabriel felt no effect at first, but then information started to enter his brain. Knowledge on how to use this new power invaded his mind and began to give him a huge headache.
"ARGH!" He grabbed his head in pain and started to go through this new information.
'This power....this is amazing! It's way stronger than I thought! I really lucked out with this ability....wow! From what I now know, I can activate this power via direct eye contact with the target and issuing a command in my mind. After this is done, the target will almost lose their free-will and obey my order, shifing its attention to what I say, but it depends on how much time I can keep the power going. I'll start to get a headache after 1 straight minute of using my power, and it will only get worse as the time goes on. The major downside of this power is that if the target has a strong mind and powerful motivation, they can free themselves of my control..... I should use this power on Reiner since from what I could see, his willpower is lower than that girl's. Just from seeing Bertolt on the ground and the sudden Titan appearance, he entered a state of shock, while the girl maintained her composure and observed the situation with a calm mind..... Yeah, Reiner's the target.'
Finished formulating his plan of action, Gabriel placed his bag on back, stored the phone on his left pocket, and picked up the shovel. He then began to think on where Reiner could be right now.
'When I left, Reiner and the girl were in their Titan forms, meaning that they could cover an insane distance in a small amount of time...maybe they attracted some Titans towards them with their attacks, forcing them to stay in their Titan forms and run away, only increasing the distance between us. A Titan Shifter probably can't stay in their Titan forms for a long time, and since only about 30 minutes have passed, I still have a solid chance of finding them. Judging by the countdown on my phone, I still have 11 hours until they attack Shiganshina.... I can do this.'
Retracing his steps, he began to jog towards the place where he last saw Reiner and the girl. He would try to follow their Titan's footsteps. 'Since these Titans have huge bodies, they must weigh a LOT too, making it easy for a footstep to be visible on the ground...' He thought.
After a good 50 minutes of jogging through the forest, Gabriel finally reached the place he was heading towards.
"Damn, I actually got lost a couple of times on that forest..." He whispered to himself.
Thankfully, his run through the forest was pretty uneventful. He didn't see any Titans or any sign of wild life really, just some small squirrels on trees.
Examining the ground, he saw several outlined footprints. One was a little bigger than the rest and went deeper on the ground, which was probably Reiner's; another was almost the same size as Reiner's but was a little shallower, and several other smaller ones.
"Hm.... They must've been chased by Titans judging by the amount of footprints here....gotta be careful." Gabriel concluded.
Following these footprints for some time, he began to see several Titan corpses on the ground. Some of them had their heads completely crushed, making their eyeballs pop out of their skulls; some didn't have a lower torso and were basically just a shoulder with heads; it was a really disgusting sight.
Cruising through these Titans with care, Gabriel saw that one of them had a lot of smoke coming out of its severed legs.
"This guy is still alive?!" He said with surprise.
Just as Gabriel said that, the Titan began to slowly turn his head towards him. In its face was a creepy, wide smile.
"NOPE!" He yelled and started to run away from it, still following the footprints but now a little to the right.
Running as fast as he could for 5 minutes sealed the deal, as when he looked back, he saw no signs of the Titan.
Continuing on his merry way, he followed the footsteps for 20 more minutes, and that's when he came across a big hill with a small tree a little in front of it.
"If we ever want to go back to our homeland we need results. We need the Founder. We can't go back without it now..." Gabriel heard a voice that he recognized as being Reiner's coming from the tree.
'This is my chance... I need to somehow attract only Reiner's attention towards me, then used my power on him.' Gabriel thought. 'From the wiki, the attack won't happen if the Colossal Titan doesn't breach the wall. Considering this information, it's safe to say that Bertolt is necessary for their plan to work. I need to make Reiner kill him, but not eat him. I don't know what will happen if a Titan Shifter dies and isn't eaten, but I hope that his power doesn't remain on his corpse.'
Poking his head up a little bit, Gabriel saw that Reiner and the girl were next to Bertolt. He was already completely fine and showed no signs of the previous injury.
'Hmm... maybe I can use my power on Bertolt instead... His Titan power seems to be the strongest out of these 3, making him my best bet at stopping the attack if I manage to get him under my ability, but that's still a gamble. Fuck it, I'll make both Reiner and Bertolt fall under my ability, I'll deal with the headache later.'
Now with a fully set out plan, Gabriel chose to act.
"PSSST!" He shamelessly called them.
As the 3 of them quickly turned their heads towards the source of the sound, Gabriel's eyes locked with Reiner's,
'Kill the girl.' Gabriel commanded.
Immediately falling under his ability, Reiner jumped at the girl with an expression void of any emotions.
Looking at Bertolt, their eyes also locked with each other.
'Help Reiner.' He said in his head.
Now with both Reiner and Bertolt under his command, Gabriel already started to feel a slight, almost negligible amount of pain in his head.
Bertolt quickly joined in on beating the girl up, so he and Reiner were beating the shocked girl.
"WHAT ARE YOU BOTH DOING?!" She screamed at them but got no response.
This went on for 5 more seconds, but that's when the girl felt like she had enough.
"YOU FUCKING IDIOTS! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU TWO?!" She asked.
Due to her being a master of CQC, she quickly used his physical might to overpower the both of them, grabbing Reiner in an armlock with her legs and left hand while dropping Bertolt on the ground and holding his throat with her right.
'Holy hell this girl is good...' Gabriel examined the situation.
"YOU!" She turned her head to Gabriel with a furious expression, "WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?"
Slightly surprised by the girl's questions, Gabriel took his time to answer. "I'm Gabriel Fox. And I don't know what you're talking about... I didn't do anything to your friends."
Not believing a single word that Gabriel said, the girl mercelessly broke Reiner's left arm and got up, stomping on his face with her boots. Bertolt wasn't left out from this massacre though, seeing as she kicked him in the head and dropped on his gut with her elbow.
'Jesus Christ!' Gabriel thought.
As Reiner got up, seemingly unfazed by having his arm broken, Gabriel looked at his eyes once more and issued a new command.
'Turn into a Titan and kill the girl.'
Reiner was intantly enveloped in yellow lightning and became the humongous Armored Titan. He didn't have to bite his hand this time since he already had an injury, his broken arm.
Surprised by her friend's sudden action, the girl bit her hand and also turned into a Titan.
Now it was Bertolt's turn. As he quickly got up with no emotions present on his face, he looked at Gabriel, waiting for a new order.
Gabriel issued the exact same command as he gave Reiner: turn into a Titan and kill the girl.
Since Gabriel was a good 20 meters away from the 3 kids, he was fine with all the Titan transformations, only surprised by their sheers sizes.
He had already seen their Titan forms once, but seeing it again was just like the first time. He was completely fascinated by their strange power.
"UUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH!" Reiner's Titan screamed as he threw a powerful punch at the girl.
Now in his 60 meter Colossal Titan form, Bertolt started to release some weird steam out of his body at a fast pace. As the steam reached Gabriel's position, he felt an insane heat coming from them so he quickly distanced himself even more.
The girl, though a master combatant, was completely overwhelmed by the Armored and Colossal Titan's strenght. No matter what she did, either Reiner or Bertolt were there to stop her.
'What happened to these freaks?! Why are they attacking me?!' She wondered while inside her Titan.
Unfortunately, it seemed as if her time had come. Due to the steam's heat and injuries that she suffered from Reiner's punches and kicks, she fell on the ground. Her Titan body was left with only a leg as her 2 arms had been brutally ripped away from her body and her left leg was bitten away by Reiner.
As a small amount of steam was released from her Titan's neck, her human body started to walk on her back, trying to distance herself from her friends and to run away.
Reiner saw this coming though, so he ran after her and picked her up with his left hand. Looking at her with his Titan's emotionless yellow eyes, he grabbed her head with his right hand and ripped it away from her body, ending her life.
Gabriel after distancing himself from their fight was hidden behind one small hill this whole time. But, seeing that the deed was finally done, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"One down, two to go..." He said.