God of Destruction Chapter 2

Armin touched his head, holding back a smirk at the fact he'd gotten rid of Armin's coconut hair and replaced it with something much more familiar. Well, he was blonde now, but the style was the same and he'd have to be satisfied with that.

"Hey Armin, the hell did you do to your hair?" He turned around to see Eren and Mikasa looking at him oddly, with the rest of their friends looking a bit less surprised.

Armin rubbed the back of his head, letting himself let slip a tiny smile. "Well, I figured it was time for a change. A haircut's a good place to start, don't you think?"

The rest of the Scouts looked at him weirdly, and for a moment he was confused as to why they were making a big deal of it. Did Armin really like his haircut or something?

"I think it looks good." Sasha's words drew everyone's attention, and the injured girl quickly felt a need to defend herself. "What? He seems like more of an adult now."

Armin felt some amusement at the fact that Jean and Connie seemed to be the first to agree, but Mikasa and Eren looked almost bizarrely conflicted over his decision to get a simple haircut.

Armin looked past them for a moment, giving his attention to Floch, the one who led the Yeagerists in the anime, and the redheaded man was looking at the ground, appearing slightly detached, a little bit away from their group.

He could tell that Floch held some resentment against him, and he couldn't exactly blame him. Floch had been the one who carried Erwin all the way to Levi, fully expecting to have the military's best Commander be revived, but instead they'd chosen to let him become the new Colossal Titan.

Armin had to wonder what Levi was thinking when he essentially reported: A fifteen year old was picked over the most competent general the Walls have ever had. It was ridiculous.

Armin looked around, noting that they'd arrived far earlier than the others who were meant to arrive. Then again, most of them were Military Police, so maybe they just didn't care enough to be on time.

"Floch, want to stick with us?" He asked, making Floch look up from the ground. "There's nine of us Scouts left, we should stick together."

The group looked at him in surprise, but Floch just looked away. "No thanks, I'm fine on my own. I have no interest in hanging around children who act out of emotion and not logic."

Eren seemed to stir a bit at that, though Armin just reputed. "It wasn't my choice to be revived. In fact, if it was up to me, Erwin would have been the one chosen. There's no denying he was the rational choice, I couldn't tell you in what way I'm better than he was."

"Armin, you..." Mikasa was quick to speak, though she obviously didn't have a sound counter argument since the words died in her throat, whilst Floch appeared surprised at the blunt answer, though was quick to speak back.

"That's right, Erwin was the right pick. Captain Levi picked you because he got emotional, all because Eren couldn't stand the thought of letting you die. Apparently the rest of us are just sacrifices so that rest of his friends can live." Maybe he would have gotten angry if Floch sounded smug or was trying to get a reaction, but no, he just sounded bitter and sad.

Eren didn't see it that way though, if the way his face morphed with anger was any indication, but just as he was about to march towards Floch, Armin grabbed his shoulder making him halt. Eren looked back, only to be surprised when Armin shook his head and stood forward to meet Floch's eyes.

Armin began. "You aren't exactly wrong, Floch. Eren and Mikasa definitely would have picked Erwin had it been you in my place instead. I would have picked Erwin if it was my choice, but, for whatever reason, I was the one who lived. Why exactly? I don't know. Only Captain Levi does, and even he said it was for, in his own words, 'personal reasons' rather than ones made using rational thought."

The Scouts behind him looked saddened by his words, but Armin didn't let any of them interrupt him. "But, I am the one who came back to life. There's no undoing that, no changing that, and because of that I can't give myself any time to feel sorry for myself or the people around me. I can only promise that I'll do everything in my power to make what my life cost worth it, even if it means dirtying my hands for it."

Floch clenched his fists, though didn't do anything other than look down in frustration. Armin eventually spoke again, making sure his voice was certain and clear. "You should join us, Floch. You're a Scout now, so that means you feel pain, but you don't have to feel it alone."

Floch was silent for a moment, and Armin wondered if he'd choose to storm off, but eventually he walked over and joined the group, much to the surprise of the others.

Armin felt the eye of someone on him, and when he turned around he met the stoic eyes of Levi Ackerman leaning against a pillar, hands stuffed in his green coat's pockets. He didn't say anything, but the short man seemed to have something akin to approval in his eyes as he stood up and started to walk somewhere else.

Feeling weirded out, Armin chose to turn his attention back to his friends and decided to ask Eren something important. "Eren, I have an idea of how to break Annie out of her shell, but we'll need the power of your Titan"

The sudden, and seemingly random, topic change took the entire group off-guard, though their reactions varied at the idea. Some uncomfortable, some hesitant, and others eager. Floch seemed to shake out of his stupor at the idea, his amber eyes glinting. "Really? What do you have in mind?"

Armin let himself give a tiny smirk of victory. "First, answer me this. How do you cut a diamond?"

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"They sure are surprisingly lively." Hange noted, the feeling of only having one eye causing her some irritation, though it was nothing she couldn't handle. "What lifted their spirits?"

Hange wasn't being literal with that question, doubting that they were truly already over the hell they'd endured, or that Levi would actually answer, but surprisingly enough he grunted out. "It was Armin. Apparently he's got a talent when it comes to making those brats forget about the shitfest they just went through. He even sorted out that new recruit without a fight."

Hange was surprised, not expecting Armin to take the initiative like that, but allowed herself to give a smile. "Well, he seems to have changed quite a lot in... just a few days." She trailed off, losing her smile as her expression became something more contemplative.

Levi picked up on that. "Is something wrong, three eyes?"

Hange shook her head and waved him off. "Nothing, it's just that Armin went through a massive change when he came back to life. The Power of the Titans isn't something we know a lot about, but if he changed because of the Colossal Titan's power then it's possible that he saw something when he woke up. Something that caused his demeanour to change rapidly in a very short amount of time. His willingness to speak up, the lack of hesitation, the way he holds himself... they're all positive changes, but this feels off to me." She glanced at the back of Armin's head, wondering how he had time to get a haircut between the meeting and the memorial. Levi notably kept silent.

Hange found her mind going back to what Armin had said at their meetings, about preparing to fight Marley again, and repeated his words in her head. She could admit that it was a good idea to be prepared for the possibility of war, but his wording almost made it sound like he was planning to take the fight to Marley. 'inevitable' he said. Which obviously wasn't a good idea, they were dealing with humans not Titans. And humans could be reasoned with; and war always got innocents killed.

Hange shook her head, knowing she was being paranoid. Armin was someone who avoided conflict, not caused it, he was a boy who lost his lunch the first time he took a life. A boy who cried and made no excuses for himself when he'd acted in self defence. The idea of him leading a war was ridiculous, that was a lot of the reason why she would have picked Erwin instead.

She winced internally when she remembered the hole she had to fill. She was under no illusions that she could completely fill his shoes, Erwin was irreplaceable, and he was someone who could have dealt with the storm ahead. She had her doubts that she had it in her. She was a good leader, but rebuilding the Scout regiment and solving the problem with Marley would probably give her grey hair.

Levi narrowed his eyes on Hange's slightly zoned out expression. "Hey, Hange. What's the matter with you?"

Hange gave a small sigh, shaking her head. "I'm just wondering how the hell I'm meant to solve this mess. Erwin would come up with some risky plan, gamble with the fate of the whole island, and somehow pull a victory out of his ass. I'm not so sure I can do that."

Levi was silent for a moment, then responded simply. "You can't replace him, Hange, that's true. But, who said you need to?"

Hange looked at him in surprise as the short man continued. "I picked Armin so that Erwin could rest, so that he wouldn't need to be a slave to his dreams anymore, and I don't expect him to replace Erwin either. There was only one Erwin Smith, and he's dead. Just be the best Commander you can be, do things your way, not his,"

She was stunned for a moment, then allowed herself to grin and give him a playful punch on the arm. "You know what? You're right, Levi. I must say, you have quite the way with words. You must really care about me."

Levi clicked his tongue in annoyance, responding dryly. "In your dreams, three eyes." Though, Hange could tell there was no real heat in his words.

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Armin felt sweat gather on his brow as he watched Historia hold her hand out for Eren to kiss, almost wanting to jump into action and stop the two from coming into contact, but managed to restrain himself as he watched the scene from her position kneeling down.

He personally didn't see the point in giving out medals like this, especially since they looked more like pendants than anything else, and very eagerly wanted to take his leave the second the ceremony was over.

This was a pivotal moment in the anime, when Eren saw the future and that set him on the path to activate the rumbling. Actually no, it would be more accurate to say that this was the moment that wrote fate in stone. The moment when Eren would see the future using the power of the Attack Titan, the moment when he sees himself committing the rumbling.

Whether the rumbling will happen or not will be determined here.

Armin wondered if he could stop it, but held himself back. Maybe he was curious, maybe he felt like letting fate decide the future for him, or maybe he wanted to see if his plans would work. If the rumbling was inevitable or not.

Eren reached out his hand, looking solemn as he pressed his lips onto Historia's hand, and a moment later he froze, eyes wide with horror and face frozen with despair.

The other Scouts, and several onlookers, appeared confused by his actions but Armin felt a massive dump of disappointment mixed with dread as he stared at the floor, wondering why he even bothered.

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Armin knew that this was inevitable, he knew he couldn't avoid it, yet he still couldn't hold back the mixture of both anxiety and fear he was feeling as he stood in an empty field, Wall Rose a few hundred meters away where he could vaguely make out the figures of his fellow Scouts in the distance.

As one of Paradis two Titan shifters, possibly three if Hange took his suggestion seriously, he needed to test out his Titan abilities by transforming. Naturally, he couldn't just transform anywhere, due to the explosive nature of the abilities he was a novice to, so they'd sectioned off an area near Utopia for him to transform where nobody would be in the way.

A knife was clutched in his hand, he lacked ODM gear, and all he needed to do was cut himself and he'd turn into a sixty meter tall Titan. It made him dizzy just thinking about how much power he had in his two hands, the power of the Colossal Titan. He was a god of destruction.

Armin breathed in, clutching the sharp knife tightly as he slashed his hand, wincing with the motion as blood stained the grass below. 

He need to focus, he needed a clear head. An objective in mind, and a strong will to carry it out.

Armin felt his entire body surge for a moment, making him brace for impact, only to be disappointed when it disappeared as soon as it came.

He gritted his teeth in frustration, trying again, and almost felt himself explode before he cancelled it. 

Armin tried to calm himself. He was turning into a Titan, the biggest Titan to be exact, it wasn't supposed to feel natural. It wasn't natural. The Titans weren't natural, but that was fine. What was being natural anyway? Him being here wasn't natural, logic dictated he shouldn't be on Paradis, yet he remained all the same.

Breathing outwards, closing his eyes for a moment, Armin snapped them open as he embraced the static that rushed through his body and a lightning bolt crashed down on his current position, swallowing his body and making him pass out for a moment as the entire area was engulfed by light.

When Armin opened his eyes, everything was tiny. The sky looked much less boundless, distant trees looked miniscule, and the Scouts in the distance might as well have been ants. In short, he was so massive that nothing except the Wall made him feel anything less that titanic.

That lasted for only a few seconds though, since he unexpectedly started to fall, unable to balance properly, and fell forwards onto his face with enough weight to make the ground shake like a miniature earthquake just struck.

It appeared the Colossal had some balancing issues.

Armin felt slightly dazed as he pressed his hands against the ground, only to realise he couldn't hear anything. Not the birds chirping in distress, not the shaking of the ground. The world was blocked out for him. That would be due to his Titan form's lack of ears, with him distinctly remembering that he only had a skull for a head as the Colossal Titan.

Placing his hands against the ground, trying to ignore the fact he was staring at scorching, angry, red and not calm, pale, skin like he was used to, Armin pushed himself up and attempted to balance himself once more.

Rising to his full height, Armin focused as he slowly place his foot forwards, making sure he wasn't about to fall again, and began to walk towards the Wall, doing his best not to fall over again as he walked over to Connie, Jean, Sasha, and Hange. The trio was here because they were worried for his safety, seeking to make sure he was okay, and Hange barely stopped herself from screaming with ecstasy at the idea of studying the Colossal Titan; so there's no way she'd pass this chance up. She did stop herself though, probably figuring it'd do her good as the new Commander to have a more serious demeanour.

Armin made his way over to Wall Rose, with the rest of the Scouts looking at him with awe in their gazes, and Armin allowed himself to smirk at the attention. It definitely swelled his ego to know his power could do that to people.

Armin couldn't hear anything, but from the way Hange was scribbling like a madman, and the way Levi was eyeing him with caution, they were probably speaking about the differences between him and a regular Titan, or possibly Bertolt's.

Armin quickly had an idea, and tried to visualise his nape, and within a moment steam was hitting his face and the flesh on his cheeks was being pulled at as he emerged from his Titan's nape, only partly attached with his arms and legs still in there, but his head had emerged and he could see through his human eyes once again.

"Armin, you beautiful- I mean, are you alright?" Hange asked, as she tried to mask her orgasmic glee, flying up with ODM gear to take a look at where he was emerging from the back.

He nodded, though he quickly noticed how tired he felt. "I'm fine, it's just really hot in there. Also, I'm feeling a bit tired. I guess transforming into the Colossal takes up a lot of stamina, even if it's just for a single time. I'll need to practice more to maintain it longer. Maybe even see if I can transform more than once."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, you shouldn't push your limits too hard, especially when you're a walking bomb. You want to try and gather us some more troops, then make sure you have the energy for it."

Armin merely nodded, knowing that he couldn't use too much energy. Especially when he had so much to do with his time, in fact, he'd be lucky if he even could fit transformation training into his busy schedule.

Hange looked seriously at him. "Are you certain that you want to take up this job? It's an important mission, trying to increase the Survey Corps numbers, and you shouldn't try to do this if you can't."

Armin tried not to be offended by those words, especially since she was talking about someone else entirely, and responded firmly. "I'm sure this is what I need to do. Let's be honest here, nobody is in favour of the fact that you chose me and not Erwin, and that decision might dissuade people from fighting for us. What I need to do is get out there and show them that I, the Colossal Titan and the one picked over our Commander, have what it takes to get us through the coming cause."

Hange looked a bit surprised by those words, though not disappointed by the answer. "You're really stepping up, you know that? It's nice to know I'll have you there to help me, Armin."

"Not a problem Commander. Besides, I won't be alone, Floch will be right there to help me. I know exactly how to get through to them. Now, can you please scatter? we need to finish these experiments."

Armin allowed himself to relax as he slowly, almost cautiously, sunk back into his Titan form and continued to test out his abilities.

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Floch had been expecting a large crowd, but that didn't make him feel any better. 

Sneaking a small peak out from behind the curtains, Floch tried to get an estimate on how many Garrison soldiers were standing and waiting below the stage, and wondered for a moment if convincing them to join was even possible considering how disastrous the operation to retake Wall Maria was. They'd succeeded, but nearly two hundred men and women had died for it, torn to shreds by rocks or burned to ash by the Colossal, and the Scouts current numbers weren't even in the double digits.

He himself would have been amongst them if it weren't for some quirk of fate.

Floch glanced at Armin with no small amount of judgement in his gaze. Whilst it was that Armin had no part in the decision to let Erwin die, that had been all his two childish friends work, he was still the one who'd taken Erwin Smith's place. It was hard to look at him without evaluating his worth, wondering how he measured up to the legendary Commander who he was chosen over.

Armin caught his gaze, not letting his emotions paint his features. "If your worried about how I'll convince them, then don't, we've got this handled."

"How?" Floch asked with narrowed eyes. "You better make good on those words, Arlert. I'm not the biggest fan of you, if you haven't noticed, and we gave up our Commander for you. The same man who gave meaning to our deaths, to my friends' deaths, so you have some big shoes to fill."

Armin didn't flinch at that, responding frankly. "I realise that my life wasn't free, in fact it was purchased with our comrades' blood and bone, and I don't plan on doing nothing to pay them back. I can't promise I'll be perfect, and I'm not Erwin Smith, but I will solve the problems ahead my way. Also, those soldiers out there will be told nothing but the truth. I can prove myself to you, but first you need to have some faith in me." He added that last part with certainty.

Floch scanned Armin's eyes for a hint of hesitance or deceit, only to find none, and backed away in satisfaction after a moment and grounded out. "You better be telling the truth... fine, you have my hopes up."

Armin didn't respond to that, instead he responded with a slightly fast. "It's time to go."

Floch frowned as he followed Armin on stage, almost mis stepping when he saw the huge amount of soldiers gathered in the hall, though tried not to let his nerves show. It wouldn't do him good to appear timid in front of so many possible comrades.

Floch almost wanted to facepalm when he pictured them, two fifteen year olds, being the ones put in charge of something as important as recruitment. That on it's own would probably scare many soldiers off, but the fact Armin was picked over Erwin would definitely taint his reputation in some capacity. He could only pray Armin had something good in mind, and if not he'd have to step in himself.

Armin spoke with an even tone, but Floch was surprised by how well he projected himself. "Good evening, my name is Armin Arlert, also known as the holder of the Colossal Titan. I'm here tonight to convince you to join us and become Scouts, to pledge your hearts and souls to the cause, however I'm sure that's something all of you have heard before from some other recruiter. Instead, I'm going to be blunt with you about the possible hell you'll have to endure if you join us, and what you'd be expected to do in order to fight for our home."

Floch was surprised by those words, as were several other soldiers, but Armin didn't give them time to rest as he continued. "Our enemy is human, it always has been, and only just now have we learned their name: Marley. An entire country, an entire civilisation, wants to hunt us all down and slaughter us like dogs. They don't care about us, they don't care about our pain, in fact they want nothing more than to snuff us all out from the most ancient elder to the freshest newborn. I refuse to cower behind our walls and let them bring us death, and because of that we'll need to bring them to their knees. Titans are no longer our only enemies, in fact hardly any of them will be, so all of us will need to kill humans if we want to win in the coming cause."

Armin breathed in, surprising Floch yet again as he began. "So, we need to be willing to stand up and give our hearts to our Walls, to Eldia! You want to join us, then you need to prepare to fight with everything you've got, to kill or be killed yourself! We all need to be willing to do whatever it takes, to resolve ourselves and fight for our right to live, even if it means taking life from others!"

Hardly even having time to be startled by Armin's words, the blonde boy continued with his blue eyes hardened and aimed at the other soldiers. "Our enemy is stronger than us, so to continue this fight we can't afford to keep our morals! The reality is that not everyone we kill will be a heartless monster, but that can't stop us from doing what needs to be done and fighting our oppressors! So, I must ask you to join our cause! The Scouts will do what we've always done, we'll fight for the freedom of everyone in the Walls!"

Floch had to hand it to Armin, he was more than a little convincing, and even he found himself believing in the other boy. The other soldiers all looked as though they were eating up his words like a fine meal, but Armin came in for kill.

Armin let silence hang for a moment, and when he spoke every soldier in the room was listening. "Some of you might have read the paper, about me being picked over Erwin Smith, and it's true. Why, I couldn't tell you. But, I was picked, and my life was paid for with theirs, so I don't have the privilege of letting their sacrifices go to waste. None of us do. It's up to us, all of us, to make sure that the hearts they gave weren't in vain. I don't ask any of you to die, but I am asking you to risk your lives out there and walk through hell. Paradis has lost enough to Marley, we've all lost enough to these monsters, so I will ask you to put your faith in me, and the Survey Corps, to make sure we don't lose anymore."

Armin was panting lightly, as though out of breath, but didn't stop as he thrusted his fist on top of the left side of his chest, saluting the crowd with all his heart.

After a moment of permeating silence, Floch hardened his eyes as he stepped forward and copied Armin's actions and met his eyes with a nod.

The soldiers in the crowd looked down, a number of them appearing indecisive, until eventually, like falling dominoes, they all began to salute back, with only a small portion starting to leave. 

Armin gave a small smile, that vanished as soon as it came, declaring out loud. "I'm Armin Arlert, the holder of the Colossal Titan. I want to live, and if Marley wants to deem us all devils and kill us all, then I'll show them what real hell looks like!"

Floch felt himself freeze, Armin's face overlapping with Erwin's, and he had to stop himself from looking on at Armin as though he were a living legend.

It looked like, no matter who was revived, Eldia still had a devil at it's head.