Marley received news of the Rumbling at twelve noon.
At one in the afternoon, they received another message: the command intended to use Marley as the battlefield.
When they heard it, they were utterly stunned. They felt the world had no right to treat Marley this way.
Marley was already bleeding as a victim—and now they were going to be used as a dumping ground for the filth of war?
It was unbearably unfair!
So they protested together, flooding the streets and cursing the World Allied Forces at the top of their lungs.
They shouted for the allied army to get out of Marley.
But at this moment, the World Allied Forces had no mind to argue back.
Because it truly wasn't good for Marley.
There was just no other choice—Marley had to become the war zone.
Of course, that wasn't what they wanted either.
So they sent a letter to the Marleyan government, telling Marley's president that war advances and retreats—and retreating to Marley was only natural, since the entire fleet had sailed from Marley to Paradis Island in the first place.
Now that the enemy had triggered the Rumbling, Marley should support the World Allied Forces, rather than making such opposing noise from behind.
After hearing that, Marley's president had no options left.
The alliance had indeed been formed at his proposal, and he held a key position in it. If he refused to bear any sacrifice, the coalition would collapse quickly.
And once that happened, every nation would only protect itself—no longer contributing resources for the world's benefit—and in the end they would all be trampled into paste by Roger Eikam's Rumbling.
All of them, dead.
That was the last thing he wanted to see.
So he could only swallow it—eat the loss in silence—and try to calm the public, to placate them however he could.
But the anger of Marley's people wasn't something that could be extinguished so easily.
To begin with, Marley's military had sent Titans to Paradis Island again and again, only to be humiliated again and again—beaten right in the face—until the public simmered with resentment.
Even though Marley's military had conquered plenty of territory abroad, in the eyes of Marley's citizens that was simply what should happen.
Because Marley had strength.
So Marley should always win.
If Marley lost, it meant the military was incompetent. If the military was incompetent, then it should be replaced.
Only a military that brought the people hope of victory was a good military—that was the unified belief of Marley's citizens.
And now the World Allied Forces were going to treat Marley as a war dump… and Marley's military was still speaking on the coalition's behalf?
That proved they didn't care about Marley's own people at all.
So what was the point of keeping a military like that?
The public immediately wanted to storm the Marleyan military government.
But under the military's forced suppression—when gunfire rang out—they chose to compromise.
The military was the military: armed, organized, holding the power of decision. It wasn't something Marley's citizens could "cause trouble" for whenever they pleased.
Even if Marley's citizens refused to pay taxes and stopped supporting the military, it would take time.
And the current stock of supplies was enough for the Marleyan military to split off and stand alone—even to become a country of its own.
By then, Marley's citizens would only be waiting to be slaughtered, with no way to resist.
So if they couldn't vent their anger… what could they do?
Marley's citizens felt sick with it.
And so they turned their rage toward the Eldians inside Marley.
As the world's scapegoats, the alleged source of war, the alleged root of all evil—
Eldians.
In Marley's Eldian internment zone, many Marleyans surged inside and committed inhuman humiliations against the Eldians.
They believed it was these "devils" who had brought the Rumbling down upon the world.
And if the Rumbling truly reached the continent, they would send these people to the very front—so they would be the first to be crushed into meat paste.
Facing these accusations, the Eldians imprisoned in the zone—having been abused and insulted by Marleyans their whole lives—truly began to believe it was their fault.
After all, Roger Eikam had escaped from their internment zone to Paradis Island.
If someone had reported him back then—if someone had handed him over to the military—would the situation have changed?
But there was still a small portion of young Eldians in the zone who felt the way they were treated was profoundly unjust.
So they decided to seize the chaos of the Rumbling, break through the walls that confined the Eldians, and slaughter the Marleyans who oppressed them.
They formed their own armed group, specializing in killing Marleyans who entered the internment zone.
They didn't have proper weapons, but with the Marleyan military overwhelmed by the front-line crisis and unable to control them, they could fight back using whatever tools they could find—against Marleyans who were often unarmed as well.
And that completely enraged the Marleyans.
They shouted harsh demands: the other Eldians in the internment zone had to report these overconfident troublemakers, tie them up, and deliver them obediently to the Marleyans—so they could be "taught a lesson."
As a result, the internment zone fell into chaos.
The people split into two factions: one pro-war, one pro-peace. The two sides immediately clashed.
There weren't large-scale firearms—but it was still street violence, brawls at intersections, weapons swung in alleys.
Even young Gabi wanted to join the fight.
She was the kind of Eldian who wanted to become "Marleyan."
In the warrior-candidate program organized by Marley, she had performed exceptionally well and had been praised many times. Because of that, she believed she had a high chance of becoming an Honorary Marleyan.
And when that happened, she could fulfill her dream—prove to Marleyans that there were "good Eldians," and drill that idea into their heads until they finally acknowledged them as kind, decent Eldians.
But now, some bastards wanted to smash that dream to pieces.
That was something she could never tolerate.
She believed some of her own people were truly stupid—blind to the situation in front of them.
She didn't understand exactly what the Rumbling looked like, but she knew this:
If they didn't behave now—if they didn't stay obedient—then after the war, Eldians would still be labeled the world's devil-source, still despised, still looked down on.
And then what would all the elders' efforts amount to?
Wouldn't it all be wasted?
"I promise… I absolutely won't let that happen. Don't worry, Uncle Reiner."
As Gabi spoke, she pressed down on the photo on her desk—a picture of Reiner with her.
She put on her uniform and helmet. She had no gun, but she still grabbed a knife and ran out.
As long as she killed the rioters—the chaos-makers—then Marleyans would live in peace with Eldians again.
For the future of Eldians…
This was a necessary sacrifice.
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