Daniel had approximately forty seconds left to live as a Titan.
At least, that was what the system seemed to think.
[DEVOURER FORM: CRITICAL INSTABILITY.]
[Remaining duration: 00:00:39.]
[Warning: Forced reversion may cause extensive tissue damage.]
[Recommended action: Find shelter.]
Daniel looked at the courtyard around him.
One wall had collapsed. Another had a Titan-shaped hole in it. The wooden fence was gone, the ladder had been reduced to kindling, and a cooking pot lay bent beyond recognition.
Shelter was apparently a luxury reserved for people who hadn't just punched a giant man-eating monster through a wall.
"Any other brilliant suggestions?" he growled.
The system remained silent.
"Of course."
He turned toward Eren and Arlen.
Both boys were staring at him.
Eren looked as if he wanted to ask a hundred questions but couldn't decide which one might get him eaten.
Arlen looked worse.
He was staring at Daniel's face with the horrified recognition of someone who had just watched a nightmare climb out of a grave.
Daniel took one step toward them.
Arlen immediately stumbled backward.
Daniel stopped.
That hurt more than he expected.
He understood the reaction. He was enormous, covered in steam, and looked like something that had escaped from a particularly unpleasant corner of nature.
Still, being feared by someone whose life he had just saved was an unpleasant experience.
"Relax," Daniel rumbled.
The sound emerged from his chest like a boulder rolling downhill.
Eren flinched.
Daniel sighed.
"That came out wrong."
He tried again.
"Don't run."
It sounded like a threat.
Arlen ran anyway.
"Wonderful," Daniel muttered.
Eren remained where he was.
He was pale, and his hands shook, but he didn't move away.
"Daniel," he said cautiously. "What are you?"
Daniel stared at him.
There were several possible answers.
A transmigrator.
A man with an evolutionary system.
A walking biological disaster.
Possibly the world's least qualified superhero.
Instead, he settled on the truth that mattered most.
"Still me."
Eren glanced at the unconscious Titan lying beside the wall.
"You turned into that."
"Excellent observation."
"You were fighting a Titan."
"Also correct."
"Then you became a Titan."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"You're getting dangerously close to solving the mystery."
Eren frowned.
"This isn't funny."
"No," Daniel admitted. "It isn't."
For a moment, they looked at each other across the shattered courtyard.
Then Daniel's left arm began to dissolve.
Not metaphorically.
The skin split into ribbons of steaming flesh, which peeled away from his bones and dissolved into vapor.
Daniel stared at it.
"Oh, that's disgusting."
Eren screamed.
Daniel looked at him.
"Why are you screaming? I'm the one losing an arm!"
The rest of his body followed.
His enormous shoulders collapsed inward. His muscles shrank. His spine twisted with a sensation like having every bone in his body pulled through a keyhole.
The courtyard tilted.
He hit the ground.
Pain swallowed everything.
For several seconds, Daniel could neither see nor hear.
Then he was lying on his side, naked, shaking, and desperately trying not to vomit.
The system flickered.
[FORCED REVERSION COMPLETE.]
[Host condition: Critical.]
[Musculoskeletal damage: Moderate.]
[Neurological strain: Severe.]
[Predatory instinct suppression: Unstable.]
[Emergency recovery initiated.]
Daniel stared at the sky.
He had never been particularly religious.
However, if there was a god responsible for his current situation, he wanted to schedule a meeting.
Preferably one involving a chair and a very large hammer.
A piece of cloth landed over him.
He turned his head.
Eren was standing beside him, holding what remained of a torn curtain.
"Here," Eren said awkwardly.
Daniel pulled the fabric over himself.
"Thanks."
Eren looked away.
"You're welcome."
A pause followed.
Then Eren asked, "Can you do it again?"
Daniel turned his head slowly.
"Can I do what again?"
"Transform."
Daniel stared at him.
"Eren, I have just experienced the biological equivalent of being folded into a suitcase. I am not accepting requests."
"But—"
"No."
"But if you can transform, then—"
"Eren."
The boy stopped.
Daniel took a shallow breath.
"We will discuss my horrifying new career when I can stand without feeling like my skeleton is trying to resign."
Eren nodded reluctantly.
Arlen returned a moment later, carrying a coat and a short knife.
He stopped when he saw Daniel on the ground.
For a few seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Arlen approached and dropped the coat beside him.
"You should cover yourself."
Daniel looked at the coat.
Then at Arlen.
"Your concern for my dignity is touching."
Arlen ignored him.
"The soldiers are coming."
Daniel's expression changed.
"How many?"
"I don't know. I heard shouting near the eastern street."
"Then we need to move."
Daniel attempted to sit up.
His arms gave way.
He collapsed with a hiss of pain.
Eren immediately crouched beside him.
"You're not going anywhere like that."
Daniel stared at the boy.
"Thank you for your medical assessment."
"I'm serious."
"So am I. Unfortunately, my body has decided to become decorative."
Arlen crouched on his other side.
"We can carry you."
Daniel looked at them both.
Two teenagers.
One suspiciously connected to a secret underground chamber. The other apparently possessed some unknown biological anomaly that had attracted the attention of a mysterious system.
And now they were going to carry him through a district filled with Titans.
Daniel had once considered himself reasonably competent at life.
Recent evidence suggested otherwise.
"Fine," he said. "But if either of you drops me, I'll haunt you."
Eren raised an eyebrow.
"You're not dead."
"Give me time."
***
They made it three streets before discovering that the situation had deteriorated beyond anything Daniel had imagined.
The main road was blocked by a collapsed building.
A horse lay dead beside a broken wagon.
Smoke drifted between the rooftops, and the distant screams had become an almost continuous sound.
More disturbing were the soldiers.
They weren't advancing toward the Titans.
They were retreating.
Some had abandoned their equipment. Others were helping wounded civilians escape through the narrower streets.
A young soldier ran past them, blood covering one side of his face.
"Get away from the center!" he shouted. "The gate's gone!"
Daniel felt his stomach tighten.
The gate.
The Colossal Titan had breached it.
That much he already knew.
But seeing soldiers retreating from a battlefield meant the situation had progressed beyond the point where ordinary people could pretend everything would be fine.
He struggled to his feet.
"I can walk."
Eren glanced at him.
"Are you sure?"
"No. But I'd rather collapse under my own power."
He took three steps.
His knees buckled.
Arlen caught him.
Daniel sighed.
"I withdraw my previous statement."
They moved toward an abandoned bakery and slipped through its rear entrance.
Inside, flour covered the counters. A broken stool lay beneath the window, and a half-finished loaf of bread rested on a table.
Daniel's stomach growled.
The sound was embarrassingly loud.
Eren glanced at the bread.
"Are you hungry?"
Daniel stared at the loaf.
Then he remembered the Titan.
The hunger.
The system's warning.
His stomach tightened.
"Not that kind of hungry."
The interface appeared.
[METABOLIC DEFICIT DETECTED.]
[Emergency nutritional intake recommended.]
[Warning: Hostile biological cravings may intensify under starvation.]
Daniel rubbed his face.
"Wonderful. Now I'm a medical problem."
He reached for the bread.
His fingers stopped an inch above it.
For a moment, the loaf looked wrong.
Not like food.
Like something soft, warm, and alive.
His mouth filled with saliva.
The sensation was gone almost immediately, leaving him nauseated.
Daniel jerked his hand away.
Eren noticed.
"What happened?"
"Nothing."
"You looked like you were about to bite the table."
Daniel stared at him.
"That is an exceptionally unpleasant mental image."
"Then tell me what's happening."
Daniel wanted to lie.
It would have been easy.
He could say the transformation had left him disoriented. He could blame the pain, the exhaustion, or the fact that the world had apparently decided to throw every possible catastrophe at them in a single afternoon.
But Eren had already seen too much.
And Daniel was beginning to understand that keeping secrets from the people who might one day have to stop him was not a particularly clever strategy.
"I'm not entirely sure what I become when I transform," he admitted. "The system calls it the Devourer."
Arlen went rigid.
Daniel noticed.
"You recognize the name."
Arlen shook his head too quickly.
"No."
Daniel leaned against the counter.
"That was a terrible lie."
"I don't know anything about it."
"Then why do you look like I've just told you I'm carrying a plague?"
Arlen said nothing.
Eren looked between them.
"What's the Devourer?"
Daniel hesitated.
"Something that evolves by consuming other living things."
Eren's expression shifted.
"Living things?"
"Animals. Potentially Titans. I'm still learning the limits."
"And people?"
The question was quiet.
Daniel met his eyes.
"I don't know."
It was the most honest answer he could give.
Eren looked down at the floor.
For a moment, Daniel thought the boy might back away.
Instead, Eren clenched his fists.
"Then don't let it control you."
Daniel blinked.
"What?"
"If it makes you want to eat people, don't do it."
Daniel stared at him.
The simplicity of the answer was almost insulting.
He had expected fear, disgust, or a long speech about the dangers of losing one's humanity.
Instead, Eren had offered a command.
Don't do it.
As if resisting an evolutionary nightmare were merely a matter of good manners.
Daniel laughed.
It came out tired and bitter.
"Thank you, Eren. I'll remember that the next time my supernatural appetite starts negotiating."
"I'm serious!"
"So am I."
Their eyes met.
Then Daniel nodded.
"I won't let it control me."
He wasn't sure whether it was a promise or an aspiration.
For now, it would have to be both.
A heavy impact shook the bakery.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Arlen rushed to the window.
"There's a Titan outside."
Daniel reached for the knife.
His fingers closed around the handle.
The hunger stirred.
He pushed it down.
"How big?"
"About five meters."
"Good. A small one."
Arlen stared at him.
"How is that good?"
"Because if it were fifteen meters tall, we'd have a much more expensive conversation."
A shadow passed across the window.
Then came the sound of wood splintering.
The Titan had found the entrance.
Daniel straightened.
His body protested immediately.
The transformation had left him weaker than he'd ever been in his life. He could barely hold the knife without his fingers trembling.
Fighting was out of the question.
He looked toward the rear door.
"Out. Now."
They ran through the back of the bakery.
The Titan crashed through the front entrance behind them.
Daniel heard the furniture breaking.
He didn't look back.
They emerged into another alley and continued toward the evacuation route.
For several minutes, they encountered no Titans.
Then they found the bodies.
Three soldiers lay near a damaged wall.
Their uniforms were torn. One had lost his equipment harness, and another still clutched a broken blade.
Daniel slowed.
Eren looked away.
Arlen swallowed.
None of them spoke.
Daniel had known that people would die today.
He had understood it intellectually.
But there was something different about seeing the bodies of men who had probably been arguing over breakfast a few hours earlier.
He forced himself to keep moving.
A voice called from the next street.
"Hey! You three!"
A soldier emerged from behind a damaged cart.
He was young, perhaps eighteen, with short brown hair and a bandage wrapped around his forehead.
He raised his sword when he saw Daniel.
"Stop!"
Daniel froze.
The soldier stared at the torn coat, the blood on Daniel's arms, and the knife in his hand.
"Where did you come from?"
"An abandoned building near the southern district."
"Why are you covered in blood?"
Daniel glanced down.
Some of it belonged to the Titan.
Some belonged to him.
"Bad afternoon."
The soldier's eyes narrowed.
"Answer properly."
Eren stepped forward.
"He saved us from a Titan."
The soldier looked at him.
"With what?"
Eren hesitated.
Daniel sighed.
"An iron bar, mostly. The craftsmanship was terrible."
The soldier didn't laugh.
He raised his sword slightly.
"You're coming with me."
Daniel stared at the blade.
"Am I under arrest?"
"You're coming with me."
"That wasn't my question."
"Do you want me to make it an arrest?"
Daniel considered the possibility of explaining the Devourer System to a frightened soldier while surrounded by dead bodies and approaching Titans.
"No," he said. "I don't."
"Then move."
They followed him toward a temporary military checkpoint.
The soldier kept glancing at Daniel.
Not at his face.
At his hands.
Daniel understood why.
His palms were covered in blood, and the nails had darkened during the transformation. Even after his body had reverted, something about his hands looked subtly wrong.
The system remained silent.
For once, Daniel wished it would provide an explanation.
They reached the checkpoint.
Several soldiers were organizing civilians into groups. A wounded man sat against the wall while a woman wrapped a cloth around his leg.
An officer stood beside a table covered in maps.
The young soldier approached him.
"Sir, I found three boys near the southern district. One claims to have fought a Titan."
The officer looked up.
"Claims?"
"He has blood on him, sir."
The officer studied Daniel.
"Name."
"Daniel Cross."
"Age?"
"Seventeen."
"Military affiliation?"
"None."
"Parents?"
Daniel hesitated.
He had no idea what had happened to the family of the body he inhabited.
"Separated."
The officer watched him for a moment.
Then he turned to Eren.
"Your name?"
"Eren Jaeger."
The officer's expression changed slightly.
"Jaeger?"
Eren nodded.
"Where is your family?"
Eren opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Daniel looked away.
The officer understood.
He lowered his voice.
"You're being evacuated to the inner district. All three of you. No arguments."
Daniel almost smiled.
"That sounds suspiciously like a sensible decision."
The officer ignored him.
He turned toward the checkpoint's entrance.
"Corporal, prepare another group."
The young soldier saluted and left.
Daniel exhaled slowly.
For the first time in what felt like hours, they were somewhere with actual soldiers, a plan, and a reasonable chance of surviving the next ten minutes.
Then the officer spoke again.
"One more thing, Cross."
Daniel looked up.
"Yes?"
"Did you see anything unusual near the southern quarantine buildings?"
The question was delivered casually.
Too casually.
Daniel felt his stomach tighten.
"What kind of unusual?"
The officer's gaze sharpened.
"Reports mention a large amount of steam rising from an abandoned courtyard. One witness claims a Titan was fighting another Titan there."
Eren turned toward Daniel.
Arlen went pale.
Daniel kept his expression neutral.
"I saw a Titan attacking people. I didn't see anything else."
The officer studied him for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
"Very well."
He walked away.
Daniel watched him go.
Something was wrong.
The officer hadn't sounded surprised by the possibility of two Titans fighting.
He had sounded concerned that somebody had witnessed it.
The system flickered.
[NOTICE.]
[External surveillance detected.]
[Observer classification: HUMAN.]
[Threat level: UNDETERMINED.]
Daniel glanced toward the rooftops.
A figure stood on a distant balcony.
A dark coat.
A pale face.
A small object held near one eye.
The figure lowered it.
Then stepped out of sight.
Daniel's pulse quickened.
The system displayed one final message.
[ARCHIVE FRAGMENT RECOVERED.]
[PROJECT DEVOURER: INTERNAL MEMORANDUM.]
"Subject Cross is not the first successful manifestation.
Previous manifestations displayed increasingly aggressive predatory behavior.
In every confirmed case, the subject eventually consumed a human being.
Recommendation: If the current subject awakens, terminate before the first feeding."
Daniel stared at the words.
His mouth went dry.
He read the final line again.
Then he looked at Eren.
The boy was watching him.
"What is it?" Eren asked.
Daniel dismissed the interface.
"Nothing."
He turned toward the inner district, where frightened civilians were gathering beneath the shadow of the walls.
He had promised Eren that he wouldn't let the hunger control him.
Now he had discovered that every previous person with his ability had failed.
The system offered no explanation.
No reassurance.
No convenient promise that he was different.
Only a cold warning.
Daniel tightened his grip on the knife.
He would not become the monster described in that report.
He couldn't afford to.
Because if the Devourer eventually consumed a human being, the military wouldn't care whether he had done it willingly.
They would kill him.
And judging by the way the officer had looked at his hands, somebody had already begun preparing for that possibility.