What defines existence?
Is it the body of flesh and blood, the brain that gives us feelings about everything, every physical aspect?
Or is it something deeper, more abstract?
In that moment, Frieda knew that she was dead. Dead beyond all doubt. Without time to activate the Titan's transformation ability, Frieda naturally couldn't activate its absurdly rapid regeneration capability either.
Not only that, this single slash was a fatal blow from any perspective. No human could survive with their head severed from their body, even one with a physique specialized for survival like Asahi.
In short, an unavoidable death.
"No!!!"
Zeke in his Beast Titan form roared at Frieda's headless corpse as his massive body fell. Levi also lost his balance and fell, having completely depleted the gas in his tanks to achieve that lightning-fast, assassination strike from a height double that of the Wall. Fortunately, a metal hand was extended in time, and the Ackerman warrior successfully stepped onto it.
"Frieda... is she dead?"
Asahi regained his composure, asking himself internally.
He was incredibly conflicted at the moment, but he didn't act brainlessly by blaming Levi or defending Frieda, or even himself.
However, before Asahi's mind could reorganize and find a solution, something terrifying suddenly happened.
"Thank you."
"Thanks to you, I can finally shake off the limitations of a mortal body..."
"To become... the true Founder."
Levi and Asahi, though they couldn't see each other, reacted identically as if by prior agreement. Their surprise morphed into astonishment, followed by horror.
Because the voice just now did not originate from a specific location in space; it came directly from inside both their heads, like their own self-doubt.
And in the realm far removed from the physical world, where space and time cannot reach, where only the soul and will exist eternally—the Paths—everything manifested more visually and seriously.
"This is bad...."
The long-haired young man raised his hand to cover his face, his eyes slightly narrowed. His expression was extremely grave as he looked toward the Tree of Life, or rather, the true form of the Founder, which was violently rampaging in the center of the desert. Storms arose, sweeping up the sand dunes, and the shape of the Tree of Life gradually etched out a face.
"Frieda Reiss... damn it! I didn't think that thing would be pushed to this extent..."
The young man gritted his teeth. His current status meant that even the turmoil in the Paths couldn't affect him. But he was now like a locked prisoner, virtually unable to do anything but observe. Even the connection outward to Asahi was nearly severed; he could only send fragmented messages.
What defines existence?
Is it the body of flesh and blood, the brain that gives us feelings about everything, every physical aspect?
Or is it something deeper, more abstract?
That's right.
The body can wither, decay, and vanish. Without a brain, without a nervous system, without senses, there are no longer any feelings.
There is only the will, only the memory supporting the "existence" of an individual. It cannot be faded by time, nor separated by space.
A soul.
Frieda's current state is exactly that.
She abandoned her mortal flesh. All of Frieda's will and memory, Frieda's soul, Frieda's ego, and Frieda's purpose have merged with the Founding root.
But in exchange for that, Frieda Reiss herself could not maintain her identity when confronted with a force as colossal as the Founder. Frieda is the Founder, but the Founder is not her.
Now, it is merely a machine carrying her will and ambition, with the intention of destroying this entire world.
The Founder sensed her own marvelous state. No longer merely limited to a single moment as when constrained by a biological brain, she could perceive the past, present, and future. Or rather, the distinction between past, present, and future was no longer so clearly defined. The past could be the present, the future could be the past, and the present could be the future.
They all intertwined with each other, weaving together into a circle without beginning or end, like the serpent biting its own tail in mythology.
The Founder, with Frieda's will, had achieved omniscience, in a certain sense.
However, just as the Founder intended to use its newly acquired power to complete the great undertaking of the Eldian race, it was stopped by something. The predetermined future became hazy, the established past was twisted, and the set present was changed.
She looked, not through the lens of space but of time. All those "haziness" and "uncertainty" originated from one individual.
Asahi.
Viewed from a physical perspective, Asahi, though much stronger than a normal living being, was still an unextraordinary part of the physical world.
But from the perspective of time, his existence... became strangely bizarre.
The Founder stood at the Paths at this moment, outside of space and time, her omniscient vision encompassing the past, present, and future. But what she observed from Asahi was merely that his "present self" was in the Jaeger's cockpit and had that face. Moreover, this continued entirely in the normal linear sequence.
In other words, how the normal human Frieda saw him before is how the Founder sees him now.
"How can this be?"
The Founder's emotionless voice expressed astonishment for the first time. It was as if only the "present" that Asahi acknowledged was the present, and even the Founder, with its all-time vision, was subject to his imposition.
However, she didn't dwell on this for too long.
Asahi's existence was only bizarre in terms of time; all that mattered was eliminating him in the "present." The ultimate goal was still the destruction of global civilization.
"Asahi, if you disregard the lives of all those living within Wall Sina, then you can try to stop me in any way you please. Otherwise, stay here."
"When the new dawn arrives, this world will begin to be destroyed, and nothing can stop it."
In response to the Founder's voice, all three Walls—Maria, Rose, and Sina—trembled violently. To the horror of hundreds of thousands of people across the territory, sections of the Walls crumbled, revealing layers upon layers of Colossal Titans lined up. At this moment, the three largest and most magnificent Walls of the past century had officially collapsed, serving a purpose far greater than their former one.
All, all the Colossal Titans completely disregarded any object. Control was now entirely manipulated by the Founder. Millions of Titans began to march outward, preparing to leave Paradis Island.
If calculated correctly, when the sun rises on the new day, the first wave of Titans will step across the sea separating Paradis Island from the mainland. That is the meaning of the phrase, "the countdown to destruction until dawn."