"You know what we want. Speak!" Rias commanded imperiously.
"Don't wanyaa," Kuroka said as she stretched lazily in her chair, her tails holding Eren's cane out of the way as she lounged. "It's too early in the morning for this. Ask me again later."
"It's six pm," Sona deadpanned.
"Exactly."
"I think she has nothing to say," Akeno 'whispered' to Rias. "I think she's a mook. I think Eren learned Senjutsu from her, and she just hung around him because she was a stray cat with nowhere else to go."
Kuroka gave the Queen a side eye as she lounged but didn't rise to the bait.
Rias decided to try another tactic.
She put away the lamp she hung over Kuroka's head, turned the light back on, and threw away the fake badge on her chest.
Honestly, she thought the costume would lighten the mood a bit, but nobody was feeling it. Even Ravel Phenex's arrival and the School Festival's advent couldn't bring everyone out of their funk since Eren's disappearance, and Rias was at her wits' end.
"Kuroka," the Gremory heiress said seriously. The former Stray Devil gave the redhead a curious look, sipping from her saucer of sake as her tails swished. "You are under our jurisdiction now." The black cat raised an amused brow. "I am not saying we can beat you in a fight, though you might be surprised. I am saying that irrespective of your 'innocence,' you are our responsibility. And so is Eren."
"Eren is way beyond your pay grade, girl," Kuroka snorted indelicately.
"We don't know that," Sona said, staring down at the cat with crossed arms. "Because, except for Senjutsu, nobody has told us anything about what he can do."
"Just that alone should tell you everything you need to knyaaow," Kuroka shook her head as she took another sip. "No. You all need to stay away from Eren. I don't want Shirone anywhere near him when he decides to make his move. Just let the adults deal with it while you remain safe in Kuoh. No matter what the Satans think, he won't be coming back here."
"...Nee-san," Koneko's soft voice carried from the other side of the Occult Research Club room. "Eren won't hurt us."
"Eren won't want to hurt you," Kuroka corrected with a sad shake of her head. "But Eren does many things he doesn't want to do for his plan."
"Like work with the Old Satan Faction."
"Exactly," Kuroka nodded at Sona's point. "Eren would be thrilled if he could crush those bastards to death, and he has for a few he didn't need, but they have their uses. It's just that their uses in the plan usually lead to their untimely demise and failure."
"Coincidentally, I'm sure," Sona said with a tried rub of her eyes.
"So he's just using them," Rias clarified, hope swelling in her chest.
She could believe that Eren was secretly part of the Chaos Brigade. She could even suspend her disbelief and believe he was secretly super powerful despite looking like he was a stiff breeze away from death.
What she could not, would not believe was that Eren would kill Issei.
She refused to believe that everything over the last year and a half had been a lie.
But Rias needed to understand Eren. His goals. His powers. Everything that he had kept hidden while speaking with them.
Only then could she understand Eren.
Only then could she bring him home.
Two people had the answers she needed.
Kuroka and Mikasa.
Getting answers from Mikasa was like pulling teeth, so they decided to interrogate the Black Cat while Levitathan's Pawn pulled Yuuto away.
Unfortunately, it seemed that when Kuroka was not leading a global terrorist organization, she was a lazy mess.
Already, she had stolen some of Azazel's booze and one of Gasper's game consoles and seemed perfectly happy to have foisted the entire Chaos Brigade mess on the Satans to deal with. She was treating this all like a vacation.
It also seemed that she was perfectly happy keeping them in the dark about Eren to prevent them from trying to chase him down.
Which... Rias couldn't say she didn't want to do.
She wanted to find Eren, demand answers from the boy, beat him up for worrying her, and have Asia heal him so Akeno could have a turn.
More than anything else, Rias wanted to understand why.
Eren said he didn't hate devils, yet he wanted to completely destroy the Underworld where hundreds of millions of innocent devils lived?
Devils who never even touched an Evil Piece, let alone used them in ways he so hated?
Why had he done all this?
Why the lies?
"Why does he need them," Rias' pressed. "Why did he build the Chaos Brigade when he probably hates everyone involved? He could have worked with us, not against us."
"He doesn't hate everyone," Kuroka denied. "He and Vali are pretty good palls. Cao Cao, too. Georg practically worships him. Hells, half-the Hero Faction have huge crushes on Eren." Kuroka giggled as she sipped her sake. "Not that it did Jeanne or Georg any good. I got there first."
There was the familiar sting of jealousy.
Rias didn't know how close Kuroka actually had been to Eren. All they had to go off of was the Stray's words... Former Stray. There was no proof besides Kuroka's words and Mikasa's acceptance of them that Eren had been romantically involved at all.
Everyone, including herself and Sona, had held their breath on the subject. Not only didn't they have any right to Eren's affection, but it wasn't the most critical worry at the moment.
Mikasa had not even addressed the issue, just going about her day, keeping an eye on Kuroka and not rising to any of the prodding.
It didn't stop the jealousy, though.
It was also much easier to hate Kuroka than Mikasa.
...Even if Kuroka had reasons for killing her King, that didn't change the fact she had hurt Koneko.
Rias only needed one look at the younger girl, sitting as far away from her sister as she could and curled up on herself, to feel the rage gain fervour.
But rage wouldn't help her now.
"If you truly want to keep Koneko safe," Rias said, letting out a breath of frustration. "We need to know what we are facing. That magician girl said Eren planned to kill Issei, and we won't let that happen. So tell us."
It seemed like her words made a little sense to the Bishop, who sipped at her sake quietly.
Whether Kuroka would have eventually agreed or not would go unknown when Mikasa returned with Yuuto.
Surprisingly, Issei and Asia were accompanying them, as were Rossweiss and Xenovia, so Rias guessed they had finished showing Ravel around town. Where the Phenex girl had gone off to, she didn't know, though.
Rias immediately noted that Issei had that vacant look on his face, the one he got when speaking to either Ddraig or the former holders of the Boosted Gear.
Rias shot her Peerage a quick look of question. Issei didn't notice, still lost in his thoughts, but Asia gave her King a worried look as she patted her boyfriend on the back. Xenovia just shrugged.
"Ravel is doing something for Issei," Rossweiss explained. "Something about his show and children? I don't know the details."
That was enough for Rias, and she looked at her Knight.
Yuuto gave his King a smile that didn't meet his eyes as he nodded toward Mikasa. More specifically, toward the storage device she carried that held her weapons.
Rias didn't ask right away as tension mounted between the older women.
As soon as she saw Mikasa, Kuroka's eyes narrowed, and the fur on her tails flared slightly.
Rias felt a vindictive sort of pleasure at the sight.
It seemed like they weren't the only ones who felt jealous.
"Let's go," Mikasa ordered the Nekoshou.
"Go, nyaa?"
"You are the only one who knows Senjutsu, and I need to practice fighting a sage."
"Don't feel like it," Kuroka said lazily as she sank further into her seat.
"Too bad."
"I'm not gonna help you fight him."
"Don't you want to protect your sister?"
"Eren won't target her." Koneko flinched at her sister's words, and Rias' felt that protective rage once more. "She's safe, so long as she stays out of the way."
"You don't seem to care that he will destroy the Underworld?"
"Should I, nyaa? Nobody can stop Eren, so I won't try as long as Shirone is safe. I only told the Satans for the deal, but they won't be able to stop him. Best let him get on with it while I keep Shironyaa far away."
"I will stop him."
"How?"
Mikasa didn't answer, but she continued to stare at the cat, making it perfectly clear that she would not back down.
"Aunty," Sona said in the tense silence that had grown between the two women. Mikasa looked at the younger girl, and her eyes softened. "Talk to us. Please."
Mikasa seemed to waver, and Kuroka suddenly sat up. The quick movement drew Mikasa's attention back to her.
"I have a good idea, nyaa," the Nekoshou said with a predatory smile. "I'm on a roll with deals. Information for information."
"You withheld information?" Mikasa asked with narrowed eyes.
"Not from the Satans," Kuroka shook her head, then nodded toward the watching group. "But they don't know anything, and I'm not gonna tell 'em anything for free. I tell them about Eren, and I spend some of my precocious free time playing with you."
"All you have is free time," Akeno bit out sarcastically.
Kuroka ignored her.
"In return, nyaa~" she singsonged. "You tell me about Eren. About your world."
Mikasa continued to watch the smug cat with an impassive gaze. Then her eyes flicked for an instant towards Sona, and she gave a short nod.
"Great," Kuroka said. "Go ahead. Ask something."
Rias knew she should ask about Eren's abilities, his plans, and anything else that could help them find him and fight him.
The question that slipped out was about none of that.
"What is your relationship with Eren?"
"Hmm," Kuroka leaned back in her chair again, legs dangling off the edge as she held her hand in her chin. Rias was sure she was messing with them. "I've been a lot of things to Eren. Right-hand woman, teacher, errand girl, and taxi service when Georg isn't available. The best way to put it would be partners to lovers. We used each other and then fell in love along the way."
"Or he used you, and you fell for it," Akeno sneered. "Why else would he ditch you for over a year?"
Kuroka narrowed her eyes but, again, didn't rise to the bait.
Rias... wasn't sure what response she should have to that answer. It was consistent with what Kuroka had said before, but at the same time...
Her emotions were such a mess.
Was she supposed to hate Eren now? Fight him?
She should, right? He had lied to them, manipulated them, and was a threat to not only her world but her family and Issei. Supposedly, he had declared he'd kill her cute little Rook, the junior he had guided.
Was that a lie? A threat? A promise?
Jealousy, anger, fear, longing, confusion, and so many other emotions swirled around in her heart.
Despite asking, Rias realized that Kuroka's answer had not settled anything.
"My turn," Kuroka said, looking at Mikasa. "You mentioned something in the meeting that I want to know about. 'Yeagerists.' You said Eren had done something like this before in your world."
Mikasa looked once more at Sona before she answered.
Rias wondered what was going on behind that blank face. What must Mikasa be going through if Rias' feelings were a mess?
"We were soldiers in the military," Mikasa said simply. "Yeagerist was the name given to a faction of our population that formed around Eren. They were militaristic, imperialistic, xenophobic, and expressionistic. They led a coup, killing the leaders of the military who disagreed with them and supplanting almost the entirety of Eldia."
"Eren hates those types of people," Sona said with her arms crossed.
"In general, he does," Mikasa agreed. "But situations will make even an angel shake hands with a devil. Men into monsters. Victims into aggressors. In our world, we were hated for being born. Almost every nation in the world wanted to exterminate the Island Devils. And they had hurt us. All of us. We were scared. We were angry. Most of us thought it was us or them."
"...Us?" Koneko asked. "You too?"
"All of us agreed we needed to do something. The Yeagerists were just the most extreme. They were calling for our extermination, so let's exterminate them first. Only then can we be safe." Mikasa shook her head sadly. "I wasn't a Yeagerist, but that didn't really matter. There were no good guys. Not even us."
"And Eren went along with this?" Akeno asked doubtfully.
"In a way," Mikasa nodded. "Eren was a symbol for the Yeagerists. When he died, he was half deified by them. Very few of them realized he had been using them, and I am sure he is using Chaos Brigade. He will use anyone and anything if it means achieving his goals."
"That is why you weren't surprised," Sona said, her gaze shooting between Mikasa and Kuroka. "Eren has done this before."
"Yes."
That was all Mikasa said as she looked back at Kuroka. It was her turn to answer a question.
Sona was the one who asked this time before anyone else could get ahead of her.
"When, where, and how did you become partners with Eren?" She asked with narrowed eyes. "Did Eren seek you out specifically, or did you just meet by accident? How'd he convince you to work with him?"
"That's too many questions, nyaa," Kuroka pouted.
"No," Sona denied firmly. "They should all be covered by how you met him. I do not believe it was a coincidence that Eren, who you said is the greatest sage to ever live, ran into you, who could train him in Senjutsu."
Because of her angle facing the door, Rias noticed how Mikasa suddenly leaned forward.
The first hint of genuine emotions flitted half a second across her eyes, but it was too subtle and complex for the Gremory to say what it was with any certainty. Fear? Despair?
Anyway, it was clear the Pawn was just as interested as everyone else in Kuroka's answer.
"It was a coincidence," Kuroka shrugged. "I had just killed my ex-King and was on the run. I was trying to sneak out of the Underworld using the Dantalion interdimensional teleportation circle when I found Eren chained up in the dungeon. The family's heir had been following his career as a mercenary and wanted to reincarnate him. They were trying to brainwash him first because he was... uncooperative."
"That sounds like Senpai," Yuuto said with a crooked smile.
"Dantalion?" Rias frowned at the name, trying to place it. "Weren't they-"
"The Pillar family that died ten years ago," Sona said, adjusting her glasses once more. "They were exterminated, the only Pillar family to go extinct since the Civil War. Nobody knows what happened, though. Their estate was completely destroyed. You did that? If you could, why didn't you fight the Naberius agents?"
"It was mostly Eren," Kuroka shrugged casually. "After I freed him, he helped me escape. The guards found us before we could get far, and he transformed. That initial blast did most of the damage, and we just dealt with the stragglers to prevent anyone from following. We've been partners ever since."
"Transformed," Issei asked, emerging from his conversation with the inhabitants of the Boosted Gear. "Like my Scale Mail?"
"Nope, nope, nope. It's my turn nyaaow," Kuroka shook her head, sitting up again to face Mikasa. Then she leaned forward, her smile all predator. "Tell me about titans."
"'Titans?'" Sona asked with a furrowed brow. "The group of Greek deities before the current pantheon?"
"That is just how Language translates it," Mikasa said plainly. "Technically, it translates to 'Giant Human' or 'Huge Man.'"
"You had giants in your world?" Issei asked, emerging from his funk to finally participate in the conversation.
Mikasa looked around the room again at the expectant and pleading eyes. Then, almost minutely, she seemed to sag slightly. Then she straightened and spoke with the plain candour of a soldier.
"No," Mikasa denied. "Only humans. Titans were humans that had been transformed. They ranged in height from two to twenty-five meters tall on average. Their features varied wildly. Some looked more like cartoons or caricatures of humans, but they were always vaguely shaped like men and naked."
"...Gross," Koneko said with a scrunched nose.
"They had no genitals or orifices but those on their head," Mikasa denied, speaking in the simple, clipped tone of someone delivering a military report. "They did not need to eat or drink to survive, absorbing power from sunlight. One I know of hid underground for almost a century without moving."
"Ah, that's what you meant when you said no magic," Sona nodded in realization. "It is a physiological transformation that follows rules of biology and physics, even if they are slightly different than ours."
"Yes."
"Eren is one of these titans?" Akeno asked, interested. "How big was he?"
Kuroka, with a mischievous smile and a waggle of her eyebrows, conjured an illusion in the middle of the room.
Everyone jumped, some preparing for a fight, as suddenly the entire room was filled with teeth the size of their arms on a massive face that only partially fit inside the club room.
"Nyahahahahaha," Kuroka giggled at their reaction as the illusion shrunk. "Consider this a freebee. This is what I meant when I said he transformed."
It didn't take too long for Rias to finally get a good look at her first 'titan.'
It was about Issei's height, though it was clearly shrunk to fit inside the room.
It was a man or at least a crude rendition of one. Two arms, two legs, a torso, and a head. The limbs were proportioned properly, and Rias couldn't help but notice how muscular the figure was, its tanned skin positively rippling with muscles, like a martial artist who spent their entire life training and fighting.
Right away, Rias could understand what Mikasa meant about the lack of genitals, as it looked closer to a doll below the waist than a regular man...
So Rias was a curious teenager, sue her. It wasn't like guys had a monopoly on porn... or hentai in her case.
It was the face where the lack of humanity truly shined, though.
Mated dark hair hung to the shoulders and half-covered long, pointed ears. The nose was typical if a touch too sharp and angular, but the eyes were sunk in too deep to be really human.
And its mouth was... unnerving. It had no lips to cover the teeth, a sharp row of them that would have been scary enough even without the fact that someone had decided to add what seemed like dozens of extras to each end of the mouth. The result looked like something that had lost its cheek and whose mouth split the face in half, top to bottom, from one ear to the other.
Its eyes were emerald green, and they burned with a raging inner fire, like all it wanted was to see the world burn.
Then, a tiny silhouette appeared on the thing's shoulder. A miniature version of Kuroka stood beside its head and barely reached its ear.
"That's Eren?" Issei asked with wide eyes. "He's huge!"
"The Attack Titan," Mikasa nodded. Did Rias imagine things, or was the initial dark emotion she had noticed earlier was gone in favour of... relief, maybe? "He's fifteen meters tall. The form of the titan varied from person to person, as does the size. You can imagine how deadly it is to regular humans without magic. Just brushing against one is enough to kill most humans, and if you are hit or stepped on, there is no saving you."
"Fascinating," Rossweiss said, peering closely at the illusion. "Apart from the size and strength, the immortality, and lack of need of sustenance, did titans have any powers? They would have to if Eren fought high-class devils, right?
"Regeneration," Mikasa answered plainly. "Cut off the limbs, carve out the heart, stab their brains, burn them, freeze them, blow them up, it doesn't matter. They will regenerate. The speed varied between titans and sunlight exposure. I have seen one cut in half, with its brain leaking out of the missing front half of its body and bleeding out, and it still managed to drag itself for days. Eren shoved explosives down its throat, blowing it up, and it still would have regrown if Historia hadn't found its weak spot."
Every word the former soldier spoke, in that dry, bored tone, made Rias feel queasy. How could someone get so used to such a gruesome sight that they could talk of it and sound bored?
Issei was looking nauseous as he held Asia tightly to his chest.
"So they do have a weak spot," Kuroka asked curiously. "I've seen Eren regenerate from losing limbs, most of his body, and half his head. You never mentioned anything about a weak spot in the meeting."
"Because it doesn't matter for Eren anymore," Mikasa said with an annoyed look. "All titans have a weakness, the spine at the base of their skull. Destroy that, and they die. But you allowed him to create a body at a distance, right? This means that he and his weak point can be anywhere. He doesn't need to be in his titan."
In his titan? Ah, it clicked for Rias.
It wasn't a transformation. It was a mech.
A meat mech, but still. Humans were the pilots, their bodies hidden in the spine of the titans. Like an Eva, only smaller and less mechanical.
Eren could turn into a mech, but he had never shown her? Newfound rage burned in Rias' weeb soul.
"Titans were the primary form of military strength in your world, weren't they," Sona said, still looking over the illusion in the center of the room. "You said your world was a century behind us in technology. The size and strength of titans alone would make them unkillable by regular humans without modern weapons."
"We managed. Only after years of study, and even then, we had heavy casualties most of the time. No other nation was as good at killing titans as us, and we still lost half a dozen soldiers for ever one we killed," Mikasa said gravely. "And you are right about military strength. Whoever controlled the titans controlled the world. But you are missing one thing. Only Eldians could become titans. A bloodline from the first titan, Ymir the Founder."
"Ymir," Rosswiess asked, looking up. "The Jotnar?"
"It is just a coincidence that she had the same name," Mikasa shook her head. "I checked when I learned of it."
"That's why they thought of you as devils," Rias said softly, staring at the miniature titan. "You weren't human to them."
Those green eyes glared at the world like they couldn't wait to rush forward and tear everything down.
Attack Titan, indeed.
"The Eldian empire spanned two thousand years because they were the ones who controlled the titans," Mikasa said softly. "Details have been lost, but the one thing everyone could agree on was that Eldia used titans to rule the world. They... encouraged the spreading of Eldian blood in order to gain more titans. They were a cruel country, on both their enemies and their own population. But by the time I was born, the empire had collapsed."
"So," Asia said hopefully. "They were stopped?"
"Nobody could stop them while they controlled the titans. It was a civil war that ended Eldia," Mikasa shook her head. "The king went into exile with a big portion of the Eldian people, hoping to pay for the sins of his ancestors. It didn't change anything except the name of the country and who was in charge."
"... And the titans?" Koneko asked, staring into the raging green eyes of the illusion.
"Eldians still made up a large percentage of the global population due to forced breeding over centuries. We were outcasts. Devils in human skin. But they still needed Eldians for the titans. Marley, the largest country formed after Eldia's collapse, had gained control of titans and used it for their imperial ambitions. If not them, someone else would have. They hated and feared Eldians, but they'd use us."
"People are the same everywhere," Yuuto said softly. Like everyone else, he was staring at the illusion of the titan in their midst. "Just weights on the scale."
"Why didn't you fight them," Issei asked innocently. "You guys could turn into titans, too, right?"
"Not everyone could, I am guessing," Sona said.
"No," Mikasa denied. "Everyone with the blood of Ymir could become a titan. I am one of only a few I know about who, and everyone else is also an Ackerman. My family is the product of genetic experiments by the old Eldian Empire. My friend thought it was an attempt to make human titans. Either way, a few bloodlines like mine couldn't become titans, but every other Eldian could."
"That's why Lady Leviathan said your genetics were more interesting than Eren's," Akeno realized, biting her lip. "But that doesn't explain why you didn't fight back."
"Because becoming a titan is a terrible fate," Mikasa said gravely. "You cannot turn back."
"What," Kuroka asked, content to mostly listen to Mikasa until now. "That's not true. I've seen Eren transform hundreds of times."
Mikasa just shook her head.
"When someone transforms, they became what we call Pure Titans. They lost all sense of self, acting wholly on instinct, like children or animals. That is how they were used in battle. Like rabid wolves, they were thrown at an enemy and let loose to run wild. A Pure Titan will stay like that until something kills them, possibly for centuries. Both Eldia and Marley forced that transformation on people for their wars. Becoming a titan is a fate worse than death."
The younger, more inexperienced in the room paled at Mikasa's words.
"But what about Eren," Kuroka pressed.
"There were nine exceptions," Mikasa explained with a nod toward the projection. "The Attack Titan was one of them. Anyone who held one of the Nine kept their intelligence and could transform at will, though the number of times per day varied by type. While shifters aren't transformed, they keep the healing and enhanced abilities to a lesser degree. The Nine were the core of the countries' military forces. A handful of the Nine working together could destroy a country in a day."
"The Warhammer," Yuuto said, looking at his one-time crush. "That was another one, right?"
"Yes," Mikasa nodded, then she looked at Kuroka. "You've seen him use it. It's that silver or white bone material. Show them."
A ring of white metal seemed to flow from the illusionary titan, surrounding it in a wave of jagged spikes that erupted in a wave.
"It looks like mercury," Rosswiess said offhand as she scribbled something on one of her notepads.
"I don't know exactly what it is made of," Mikasa admitted. "It is harder than bone and most metals. But it made the Warhammer Titan the third strongest, though most considered it the second, after the Founder. It could create weapons and armour while all the other titans only used their bodies. It could even form the titan away from the host, meaning even cutting its spine wouldn't kill the shifter."
Mikasa's emotions shone through as she shot a glare at Kuroka.
"Its weakness was that all the material had to remain attached to its body, or it would dissolve. A weakness Eren doesn't have anymore. I have no idea how far he can use the Warhammer from his body, but just the fact it doesn't need to be attached makes it incredibly deadly. He can create as many titan bodies as he wants without exposing himself to danger."
The nekoshou didn't look repentant in the slightest. In fact, she looked smug.
Rather than responding to the cat, Rias pointed out a discrepancy.
"You said there were nine special titans, right? Eren inherited two? Or are there nine types, and someone can show up with multiple different ones if they're talented. Like our clan traits?"
"Nine total. At any given point, there are only ever nine, never more. It gets iffy with the Founder, but that is the rule. Eren is the first since Ymir to hold more than one. He held three. The three most dangerous. The Warhammer, the Founder, and the Attack Titan. Thankfully, we only need to worry about the Warhammer."
"Why," Xenovia asked with her arms crossed. "You said the Founder was stronger."
"The Founder's main ability is to control all who share Ymir's bloodline," Mikasa explained simply. "I am the only Eldian here, and Ackermans cannot be controlled due to the genetic manipulation. There are no other titans in this world for him to control, and nobody can become a titan. Besides, only those who possess the royal bloodline or those touching someone with that bloodline can use it. Neither Eren nor I have that bloodline, so the Founder is useless to him."
"What about the Attack Titan," Sona asked with a nod toward the representation of Eren in the center of the room. "What is its power? By process of elimination, it is either the first or second most dangerous titan."
"It doesn't matter," Mikasa shook her head. "By itself, it is only a slightly stronger and smarter titan. Only when its power worked with the Founder's did it become a problem. Without it, and in this world, it is essentially powerless compared to the Warhammer."
"What if it did work," Kuroka asked curiously, staring at her illusion. "What if he did have those other powers? How strong would he be then?"
Mikasa looked at the former Stray as if judging the reason for her interest.
Eventually, she answered though.
"If Eren could use the Warhammer Titan, the Founding Titan, and the Attack Titan, then he'd be the strongest being in this world."
"Really, nyaa" Kuroka asked doubtfully. "I've met Ophis. Eren is super strong but not 'Ouroboros Dragon' strong, and nothing compared to Great Red."
"Not in direct power," Mikasa shook her head. "But it wouldn't matter. The world would become as Eren willed to. Actually, just the Attack and Founding Titan powers would be enough. He wouldn't even need the Warhammer. It is just a tool he needed last time."
That answer didn't disenchant Kuroka in the slightest.
If anything, that made the cat girl all the more smug as she beamed over at her sister.
"Do you understand how awesome Onee-sama is now, Shironyaa? She snagged a super cool brother-in-law for you."
"Who dumped you," Akeno pointed out again.
"Doesn't matter," Kuroka shook her head. "Lovers fight."
"You sound like you want him to win," Rias accused.
"Eren won't lose. The Underworld's only hope is that he changes his mind, but I am not counting on it. I am just here to keep Shirone safe," Kuroka shrugged. "He'll finish his business and come around. Besides, can you imagine our kittens?"
"Eren will never have children."
Mikasa said it with such certainty that it took everyone by surprise. And anger.
"Maybe not with you," Kuroka said acidly. "But I am not giving up."
"Give up."
There was no anger in Mikasa's voice, just grim certainty.
Which seemed to anger Kuroka even more.
Gone was the playful facade of joviality as she practically teleported right in front of Mikasa, her seven tails swaying angrily.
Mikasa watched impassively, not flinching as the former vice leader of the Chaos Brigade hissed at her.
"I'm sick of this," Kuroka spat. "I had high hopes for you, you know? I know how much he cares about you. I was the one who pushed him toward you."
"Am I supposed to thank you?" Mikasa asked in that same bland tone.
"You're supposed to feel something!" Kuroka snapped. "You are supposed to care about him! You are supposed to love him! You are supposed to support him!"
"I am not chained by love."
"Kuroka," Sona tried to interject, but she was ignored.
"So you just throw him away as soon as you can? The first person to claim he's an enemy, and suddenly you are ready to kill him?"
"Nee-san," Koneko tried to help, but even she was ignored.
"I know Eren," Mikasa simply said. "I am not blinded to who he is. What he is. He makes his choices, and I will make mine. He would hate it if I didn't."
Rias and Issei hurried to place themselves between the two women and the rest of the room. Rias summoned her Rain of Destruction, and Issei started Boosting.
"You know nothing," Kuroka spat, hackles raised.
"I know your request for Evil Pieces won't work," Mikasa said. "Even if you get them, Eren will never become a devil. Eren is going to die. Accept it."
"I refuse to accept a future like that! The only future I want is one where I can live a long, happy life with Eren, Shirone, and a litter of titan kittens! That is the only future I will accept!"
For a long second, Mikasa didn't say anything.
Then, in a quiet voice, she asked.
"You... told Eren this? You said you wanted titan children?"
"Aunty-"
Sona's urgent voice was cut off by Kuroka's answer.
"Of course," Kuroka said proudly. "This world is full of monsters worse than humans. Unlike you, I don't hate titans. I don't hate Eren for who or what he is."
"Titans eat people."
"... what?" Kuroka asked.
Rias could understand the hesitation and confusion. Mikasa's words were so quietly and simply delivered that Rias thought she had misheard.
Mikasa's voice was unhurried, but there was a note of acid there that hadn't been present so far.
"They eat people. Humans. They will never attack animals. They only hunt humans. To eat them. They weren't weapons. They were predators. And we were the prey. The cattle to the wolves."
"But you said they were people!" Issei protested.
Mikasa didn't even look at him. Her eyes were dead and haunted as they stared into Kuroka's.
"So?"
"That doesn't make sense," Sona denied, shaking her head frantically as she stepped away from her aunt. "You said they don't need to eat to live."
"They don't," Mikasa agreed. "Pure Titans hunt and eat humans on instinct, not for sport, hunger, or any other reason. They eat, eat, and eat, and when their stomachs are full, they throw up the half-digested corpses in a ball to eat more. If someone's lucky, they are killed right away. Titans only want to eat living humans. They don't care about the dead. So you are still screaming as your head is bitten off, you are swallowed whole, or torn limb from limb by titans fighting over who can eat you first. The luckier ones die in one bite to large titans. If you are unlucky, you get caught by a small one, and it eats you one bite at a time. The only solace is we know who they are when we find them. Others aren't that lucky. Comrades bit in half. Sometimes, limbs are all we find. Maybe we have to dig through the corpse balls if we want to know if someone died. We never found out what happened to most of-"
"Stop it!" Xenovia shouted.
Rias realized the Knight was holding a trembling Asia as the room looked at Mikasa in horror.
Mikasa just watched Kuroka with blank eyes.
"...Why?" Rias asked, and she was ashamed of the crack in her voice. "Why do they... do that?"
"Instinct," Mikasa repeated simply, still with that eerie haunted look. "It is the only way they can regain their humanity."
"What do you mean?" Kuroka demanded. She was the most horrified of anyone here. She had actually seen Eren as a titan. "What do you mean by that!?"
"The only way for a Pure Titan to turn back into a human is if they become one of the nine Titan Shifters. The only way to gain that power is to take it from the old shifter by eating them."
"...Who?"
"...Eren gained the Warhammer by consuming one of our enemies," Mikasa hesitated before answering Sona's horrified question, seeming to come back into herself for the moment. "He invaded Marley and attacked in the middle of a festival to get her. She tried to fight back with other Shifters, but he got her in the end."
"And the other two!?" Kuroka demanded.
Mikasa didn't answer.
Rias realized she had never intended to go this far with her explanation. She had intended to tell them the basics about titans and leave it at that. She never wanted to tell them about the... forced cannibalism.
About what Eren had gone through.
Rias's second realization was that Sona had immediately noticed something was off, something Rias was just now picking up on.
Mikasa was absolutely furious.
For all that her aunt pretended to be stoic and strong, she must be in pieces internally.
Reunited with the boy she loved, only to have to find out he was going to die? He already has a lover and is an enemy she has to fight?
Whether it was the situation or Eren, Mikasa was barely holding on. She had been trying to be strong for them.
But Kuroka's words had pushed her over the edge.
Those two realizations prompted a third.
Even raging mad, there was still something she was holding back. Something even more horrific that Mikasa didn't want them to know.
"Aunty," Rias prompted. "Please tell us. We need to understand. Eren... What happened to him? Who did he... eat to gain those powers?"
Mikasa looked around the room, almost like a cornered animal searching for an escape... No. Not like an animal.
Like a soldier looking at fresh recruits and deciding if they were ready for the horrors of war.
Eventually, her eyes settled on Sona, and they stayed there.
Mikasa's rage seemed to leave her, and she just looked... sad.
Heartbroken.
"... The Founding Titan was consumed by the last Attack Titan before Eren. He's the one that turned Eren into a Pure Titan. He did it so Eren could eat him and gain both their powers. He entrusted everything to Eren."
"Who?" Sona asked.
"Grisha Yeager," Mikasa said, closing her eyes so she didn't have to look at the horror on the young devil's face. "Our father."
"...no."
"He did it a day after we watched our mother get eaten by a titan."
"...you're lying to hurt me. You have to be!"
Mikasa turned around, walking toward the door of the club room. However, she didn't ignore Kuroka's horrified whisper as she paused with her hand on the doorknob.
"Eren hates titans. More than anyone else to ever be born, Eren hates titans. He dedicated his life to exterminating every single one of them. He would hate nothing more than unleashing titans on this world after he died. Especially his children."
"He never told me!"
Even Issei could hear the heartbreak in Kuroka's voice.
"Every time you told him you wanted titan children," Mikasa continued, still not looking back. "You were telling him that you wanted his kids to eat him, then get eaten in turn by their children. Just like he had to eat his father. A never-ending cycle of hell."
"I didn't mean it like that!" Kuroka snapped. "How was I supposed to know when he didn't tell me?"
"No. You didn't know," Mikasa said sadly, still not looking back. "And you still know nothing."
Then Mikasa left her plans for training long forgotten, leaving the younger devils to reconcile the new information with their memories of the boy on the bench.
They might have come from the Underworld, but their world was not a hell in which they had been forced to eat their own father.
As Rias tried to console Asia, she couldn't help but notice that though Mikasa Ackerman's back was straight and she moved with purpose, she looked incredibly lonely.