Outside the Walls of Orvud District

Mikasa and Jean drag a half-formed Eren free of his Titan, which has crystallized into a mass of hardened pillars propping up the failing cavern beneath the Reiss chapel. Levi notes that the structure persisted even after Eren left it, connecting the feat to the armor serum Eren drank and speculating that the Walls themselves may have been raised the same way. The implication lands immediately: sealing the breach in Wall Maria might finally be possible. Outside, the squad discovers the earth split open where an immense Titan, Rod Reiss, crawled out and slithered away, its body so hot the surrounding forest burns.

Riding after it, the group debates their options. Hange designates Eren's stolen power the Progenitor Titan and explains that only Reiss blood unlocks its full potential, though any Reiss holder falls under the First King's pacifist ideology. Eren offers to let Rod devour him so the power returns to the royal line, and Levi entertains restraining Rod afterward, but Historia rejects the gamble. She argues that generations of her family never broke the brainwashing, that a Reiss wielder could rewrite everyone's memories, and that Grisha Yeager stole the power precisely to keep it from the First King's will. Persuaded, the squad resolves to kill the Titan. Hange makes the cost explicit: Historia must help destroy her own father. Remembering his apology to her, she admits she once meant to kill Eren to win Rod's love, then says her goodbyes to him in her heart.

Reunited with Erwin, the squad tracks the Titan toward Orvud District. Eren tries repeatedly to command it with the Coordinate and fails. Hange deduces the creature is drawn to dense population, meaning an evacuation would only redirect it toward Mitras, so Erwin halts the evacuation, keeps the citizens in place as unwitting bait, and stations the Corps on the Wall. As dawn nears, Historia appears in full gear despite orders to stay safe, declaring she has come to face her destiny, just as the crawling Titan closes within striking range.

Eren's first successful hardening saves Squad Levi and reveals a plausible method for sealing Wall Maria, and possibly the origin of the Walls themselves. Historia discloses that Grisha killed the Reiss family and took the Progenitor Titan from Frieda because no other path could free humanity from the First King's control.

The squad commits to killing Rod Reiss rather than restoring the power to royal blood. Erwin stages a fake evacuation drill at Orvud District so the population can serve as a lure, and Historia defies her protected status to join the coming battle.

Rod's crawling form is estimated at twice the Colossus Titan's size, and its extreme body heat ignites everything along its path while it ignores the soldiers entirely, behavior Armin flags as abnormal. Eren's failed attempts to trigger the Coordinate echo his single success against the Smiling Titan, which he recalls involved striking Dina Fritz's hand.

Per a 2017 magazine statement by Hajime Isayama, this chapter marks the first time the sun is shown climbing from the west, confirming that the series' world mirrors real celestial movement. The events adapt into the anime episodes Outside the Walls of Orvud District and Ruler of the Walls.