Descent

Watching the barrel carrying Bertolt sail over Shiganshina, Erwin admits Zeke has outmaneuvered the Survey Corps. Hange orders their soldiers to clear the area, though Armin calculates that nobody can move fast enough to escape a Colossus Titan's landing blast.

Bertolt readies his transformation mid-flight, then spots Reiner's mangled body below and abandons the plan. Descending on his vertical maneuvering equipment, he finds his friend alive, having survived by moving his consciousness into his nervous system, a gamble Bertolt can barely believe he attempted. He tells Reiner to either move or brace for what comes next.

Recognizing the pause as an opening, Hange leaves Squad Levi to guard Eren and moves to strike, but Armin insists on one final round of talks. Bertolt's terms are absolute: surrender Eren, and every human inside the Walls dies. Armin reaches for the old lie about Annie being tortured, and it fails; Bertolt has stopped believing it. He also sees through the stalling itself, aware that soldiers are encircling him while others head off to finish Reiner. Asked why he played along, he answers that he needed to prove to himself he would not fall apart in front of former comrades a second time. When Armin asks whether the Warriors want them dead as descendants of devils, Bertolt replies that the people of the Walls did nothing wrong; they simply have to die.

Mikasa ambushes him from behind but takes off only an ear before a kick sends her away, and Bertolt withdraws after nearly cutting Armin down. Mikasa urges falling back in case he transforms; Armin argues he would never risk a blast with Reiner helpless inside its radius, but Mikasa senses something planned beneath his strange calm. Meanwhile, the soldiers sent to execute Reiner discover the Armored Titan has flipped onto its back, sealing the nape and its occupant beyond reach.

Soaring above the district, Bertolt registers no fear at all. Telling himself that no one bears fault and that nothing could have changed in so cruel a world, he transforms. Hange screams for retreat too late; the explosion swallows their squad while Squad Levi shelters from the shockwave. Regrouping, Armin tells Jean that Hange's team stood beside Bertolt when it happened, and the survivors stare up at the Colossus Titan looming over the flaming ruins, apparently the only ones left alive.

Bertolt calls off his aerial strike upon seeing Reiner's ruined body and confirms his partner survived through a nervous-system consciousness transfer.

Armin's final negotiation collapses; Bertolt no longer buys the lie about Annie's torture and declares the Walls' population must be destroyed regardless of guilt.

Bertolt transforms above Shiganshina, the blast engulfs Hange's squad, and Squad Levi emerges as the only unit seemingly intact to face the Colossus Titan.

The character list marks Moblit Berner among those killed in the transformation blast. The chapter's defining quote belongs to Bertolt, who concludes that no one is at fault in a world this cruel; his composure throughout the attack contrasts sharply with the breakdown he suffered the last time he confronted his former comrades.

Descent closes volume 19 as its fourth chapter and stands 78th overall, released in February 2016 within the Return to Shiganshina arc. The anime adapts it in the episode sharing its name.