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Chapter 10

Eren opened the familiar wooden door with a soft creak and entered first, calling out loudly:

"We're back!"

Mikasa followed immediately, carrying a pile of firewood gathered outside the town. Eren brushed dust off his trousers, exhaling heavily.

The house was warm as always, filled with the scent of soap and hot water. In the kitchen, Carla Yeager—Eren's mother—was quietly washing dishes, her movements gentle.

At the wooden table, Grisha Yeager—Eren's father—sat organizing his medical tools inside a black leather bag. Hearing the door, he calmly turned to greet them with a quiet smile.

"Welcome home."

Carla looked at them with a concerned mother's tone:

"You're late today, kids… Did something happen?"

Mikasa set the firewood down next to the hearth and sat in silence. Eren pointed to his back as he sighed.

"Oh, well… it's a long story…"

His gaze suddenly snapped to his father.

"Huh?! You're about to leave, Dad?"

Grisha looked up and replied calmly:

"Yes. Several patients in town are waiting. I have to visit them tonight."

Although his words seemed normal, the atmosphere shifted afterward.

Breaking the tension, Mikasa spoke with deliberate clarity:

"Eren told me… he wants to join the Scout Regiment."

Her words hit like a thunderbolt across the quiet home.

Carla dropped a plate into the sink and rushed over, seizing Eren's arm, her eyes searching his soul.

"Eren?! What are you thinking? Among all the people who've left these walls… do you know how many died?!"

Eren's voice trembled between defiance and fear:

"Yes, yes I know!… But I… I don't want to stay ignorant for the rest of my life!"

He sounded anxious, but his determination was unmistakable. He glanced at his father, who had remained silent.

"Dad… why do you want to go outside the walls?"

A beat of silence, then Eren exhaled deeply:

"Because I want to know… to see the truth… to see the real world. I don't want to spend life hidden behind walls… And if someone can discover where they come from… if they can learn, then the sacrifices won't be in vain."

Mikasa stared in astonishment—he spoke with wisdom beyond his years. Grisha remained still for a moment, then closed his medical bag and rose.

He said as he headed for the door:

"So be it… The boat arrives soon. I must go now."

Carla grabbed his arm in alarm:

"Wait, dear! Please… convince Eren! Make him reconsider!"

Grisha looked at her briefly and replied:

"No."

Turning to Eren, his gaze deep and serious:

"When a person decides to go on a mission… there is no room for argument."

Eren was stunned. He had not expected his father to support—and accept—his decision in such a way.

Grisha took another step and then reached inside his coat, producing a small silver key that glinted coolly under the light.

"When I return… I'll show you the room I've kept secret these years… the room beneath the cellar."

Eren's heart raced. He had always been curious about that hidden room—never allowed near it.

"Really, Dad?!"

Grisha smiled gently—though a hint of sadness lingered, as if bidding farewell.

Then… he left.

He paused at the threshold, glancing back at his family—wife and son—and said quietly:

"Take care of yourselves."

He closed the door slowly and walked away toward the port, dusk settling over the town, with destinies forging and changing in the coming night.

---

That evening, the sky was overcast and oppressive. Grisha's steps along the quay were heavy and deliberate, as if he felt the weight of the world with each stride. In his chest, echoes of last night's promise reverberated:

> "If I don't do it… no one will."

At the inner harbor—where a small wooden boat awaited—Grisha boarded and sat upon an old crate, clutching his medical bag as though it were his only shield.

The short journey along the river seemed to stretch into eternity as he gazed into the dark water reflecting his pale face.

"What is this heaviness?" he whispered. He felt watched—as though eyes followed him through time itself.

He pushed away the feeling—focused on the task that mattered more than fear, more than anxiety, more than himself.

Upon landing at Wall Rose, he disembarked and walked through the farmland—fields where locals dared not approach the Reiss family estate.

Gray clouds crowded the sky, as though anticipating blood. The air hummed with something unseen but palpable.

Grisha traversed muddy paths until he reached an abandoned church standing at the edge of nowhere.

This church was more than a structure—it was a facade concealing the heart of truth… and a curse.

He paused at the dusty stone cross before the entrance, then stepped in. A slow creak echoed as the door opened.

Inside lay thick silence. Old blankets covered benches, the air stale. Dim light crept through narrow windows.

He made his way to the altar and pressed a small protruding stone on its right—firmly.

Suddenly, the floor behind the altar began to split. A dark staircase descended into the depths. Grisha realized that once he pressed this, there was no turning back.

He clutched his bag and peered into the void below, inhaling deeply:

"This is where history will change."

Just then, the ground trembled violently—as if an earthquake shook the foundation.

But the true shock came from the shattered window he glanced through:

A colossal red Titan clawing at Wall Maria—approaching the island like a predator stalking prey.

Terrified, Grisha hurried into the secret cellar beneath the church.

---

The descent was slow and heavy. Each step weighed on him with the potential of failure... or success. His breath echoed in the void, his footsteps resonating like the heartbeat of a beast.

Arriving at the bottom, he stood before a massive iron and ash door—the entrance to power: the Force of the Founding Titan.

Beyond it lay King Karl Fritz's royal blood—proof of who prevented its use against Marley and chose ignorance and imprisonment over freedom and confrontation.

He pressed his hand to the door and shut his eyes, recalling memories: his late sister Faye's tearful eyes, Dina—the wife he lost—and Zeke, his son who betrayed him. Above all, he thought of Eren—hope and destruction personified.

"I swear I will change the world… even if it means becoming the devil everyone fears."

He opened the door.

---

Grisha Yeager descended ancient stone stairs into a chamber bathed in purple-tinged light. Crystals lining the walls glowed with haunting colors of pale violet and radiant gray, as though crying out truths the world cannot bear.

At the base lay the legendary room—the Reiss family's sacred chamber. Surrounded by this spectral aura, stood Rod Reiss, heir to everything, and Frieda Reiss, whose gift is the most destructive in human history—the Founding Titan.

They all turned as he entered, footsteps resolute, medical bag aboard, heart pounding with purpose.

Rod pulled Frieda back anxiously:

"Frieda, step away… he doesn't seem a friend."

But Grisha raised his hand in calm resolve, voice deep and firm:

"Do not worry… I am one of Eldia, just like you. I come to end the lie that has kept our people caged for a century."

Frieda's eyes quivered, yet she did not flee—she recognized the truth in him. She knew he understood who commands the Founding Titan and how the Fritz line masks the Reiss monarchy.

Grisha stepped forward until only three meters separated them, looking Frieda in the eye:

"You must stop it now… stop the Titans attacking the walls! My wife and son are there! Everyone will die if you don't intervene! They are attacking now—it could be the end!"

Frieda closed her eyes as if listening to ancestral voices, and finally said with chilling calm:

"We cannot escape our sins… we inherited them and must bear them—even if it means all of us perish."

Silence fell. A subtle tremor resonated within the cave—as though something deep within stirred.

Grisha, stunned, whispered:

"What?! You say this knowing what's happening out there?! People are slaughtered without understanding! Because you stole their memories!"

Frieda opened her eyes with a trembling voice:

"Yes… because I don't want history to repeat itself. Humanity is weak before this power. Devastating war showed that we must hide it. Better that they live in ignorance than perish."

Grisha felt dizzy—crushed by her words and the presence of three presences he sensed since boarding the boat. They were near—beyond mere hallucinations, untouchable and haunting.

One of them—the third—burned with rage.

Grisha slowly turned and saw a mysterious figure behind him: a young man with black hair falling over furious eyes—unfamiliar yet hauntingly familiar.

There was no turning back now.

He took another step forward, voice cracking with emotion:

"Is this the repentance you speak of? You will let us be killed without knowing why? Let us be destroyed while living a lie? Let my son remain ignorant, only to be devoured by a Titan?!"

He screamed with thunderous intensity:

"Those inside the walls bear no sins from your ancestors! You are murdering innocents!"

Frieda, carrying a century of inherited guilt, replied softly but firmly:

"Even if they know the truth, nothing will change. We Eldians must disappear."

She stood cool and resolved, meeting Grisha's gaze:

"Do not try to persuade me... Even if you take the Founding Titan from me, you cannot use it!"

Her words were unshakeable—a stark declaration.

But Grisha's response raised the stakes.

He lifted his head, eyes reddened, harboring suppressed rage and despair:

"I know." he whispered.

"I know I cannot activate the Founding Titan without royal blood…"

Frieda froze in disbelief.

"Huh?!" Her voice echoed sharply in the crystal cave—she had not expected such admission.

He didn't pause.

His voice, loud with desperation and fervor, boomed:

"But I came for another reason…I came because this moment—this exact moment… is what my Titan has awaited since time immemorial!"

He stepped forward, his cry reverberating across the ancient vault:

"Since the dawn of time… the Attack Titan obeyed no king. Do you know why?!"

He paused, then bellowed:

"Because it is the rebellion. Because it was chosen long ago to oppose King Karl Fritz!"

His voice shook the cavern, echoing ancestral anger.

Then he continued:

"My Titan… the Attack Titan… is not ordinary. It does not just possess strength—it possesses something unique that no one told you…"

"It can pierce the wall of time! It can see memories… through its future inheritors!"

Frieda's eyes widened in shock.

"What?! No… impossible… such power cannot exist!"

Grisha smiled—for the first time since entering the cave. It was a battered, painful smile—like a man who knows he will not leave alive.

"You didn't know because King Fritz forbade it—all who carry our blood must swear not to use its power… not even to dream of freedom."

"But I… I am not of royal blood. And my Titan?… My Titan shows me what will come. It shows me this filthy future…"

He lifted his face and cried out as if summoning the heavens:

"That is why I was granted this power! To arrive at this moment!"

Frieda stepped back, fear in her motion. The Reiss family behind her trembled.

She pulled a small hidden knife from her sleeve and cut her palm—the instant blood spilled, steam erupted around her.

But Grisha acted first.

Drawing his own blade, he stared at his open palm:

"No more waiting… no more innocent death behind walls… Now, this ends."

He cut his hand deeply.

BOOOOM!!!

The crystalline cavern shuddered violently.

Scalding steam engulfed the chamber, an orange glow exploded from Grisha's transforming body as a demon

ic roar echoed—a Titan unleashed from centuries of confinement.

The Attack Titan had ascended.

A massive, furious, distorted form of rage stood before them, turning its head toward Frieda—who was now just beginning her transformation but not quite complete…

To be continued…