Realizing what was about to happen, the entire Reiss family panicked and ran. Only Frieda remained, determined to bite into her own hand and transform into the Founding Titan to face Grisha head-on.
But in the next moment, the sharp clatter of a scalpel falling to the ground echoed through the church.
Clang!
Frieda froze. Grisha was kneeling on the ground.
"I... I just can't bring myself to harm children..."
He knelt there, voice trembling with sorrow.
It was a moment of heartbreaking weakness.
"No way! This already happened! This was history!" Zeke, from the future, muttered in disbelief.
But Eren ignored him, instead staring at the kneeling Grisha with eyes full of bitter disappointment.
Meanwhile, Rod Reiss and the rest of the family—still unaware of the watchers in the shadows—kept urging Frieda to transform, to destroy the intruder with the Founding's power.
But Frieda hesitated. Seeing that Grisha didn't want to fight, she too faltered, unwilling to kill him without reason.
Then Eren resumed his manipulation, whispering memories across time and space straight into Grisha's mind.
"Get up..."
His voice was like a demon's whisper in Grisha's ear. "Your sister, who was torn apart by hounds... The Eldian Restorationists... Dina... Have you forgotten them?"
Zeke began to realize something was off, but by then it was too late.
Eren's voice triggered a flood of guilt and rage inside Grisha. He vividly recalled taking his sister outside the walls and how that led to her death.
Wracked with torment, Grisha's emotions spiraled. His expression contorted, and at last, he stabbed the scalpel through his palm.
In an instant, electricity surged around him—then, with a violent burst, he transformed into the Attack Titan, towering fifteen meters tall, its features bearing clear resemblance to Grisha himself.
Frieda reacted immediately. She bit into her own hand and transformed into the Founder Titan—a female Titan whose appearance mirrored her own.
Though roughly the same height as Grisha's Titan, her frame was noticeably leaner, and her power restrained.
She couldn't fully draw on the Founding's potential, partly because of the Vow of Nonresistance that bound her bloodline, and partly due to her inexperience in wielding Titan abilities.
Overwhelmed by Grisha's fierce assault, Frieda began to lose ground quickly.
That's when a calm voice echoed from the shadows.
"Show's over. Time to step in."
It was Byakuya who spoke.
He and Eto, had been silently watching from the far corner of the underground church. Eren, Zeke, Grisha—none of them had noticed their presence.
Even though Byakuya couldn't see future Eren and Zeke, he knew they were there.
After all, Grisha hadn't intended to kill Frieda and the children. It was future Eren who manipulated and pushed him down that path.
And now, Byakuya had come to end that manipulation.
Eto instantly morphed into her kakuja form, and in a blur of motion, she struck. With brutal precision, her kagune—sharp as blades—sliced clean through both Titans' arms.
Before they could even register what was happening, both the Attack Titan and the Founding Titan were disarmed, their limbs severed below the shoulders.
The rest of the Reiss family had already fled in the chaos.
Byakuya then appeared beside Eren and Zeke. He couldn't see them, but he knew they could hear him.
"Sorry, Eren. Neither your plan nor Zeke's will succeed. Grisha won't inherit the Founding's power. And you—at just eleven years old—won't become the Attack Titan."
"This story ends here. From now on, she and I will rewrite everything."
Byakuya turned his gaze toward Eto in the distance as she loomed over the fallen Titans.
Eren and Zeke were both stunned.
Especially Eren—he remembered this strange white-haired youth, remembered that bizarre Titan that appeared back when the Colossal Titan breached the wall.
He remembered how this stranger controlled Dina, using the Founding's power to stop her from killing Bertholdt, someone Eren still needed alive at the time…
And he remembered how, in that version of the past, his mother survived—thanks to this man.
Now, that same man was disrupting the story again. Preventing Grisha from inheriting the Founding's power. Preventing Eren from receiving it.
Stopping everything.
Eren could tell—the strength of this Owl-like Titan was overwhelming. Grisha had no chance of winning.
But what truly shook him was this: how did this guy know so much? How could he even tell Eren and Zeke were here, watching?
"You... how?" Zeke stammered, his brain struggling to process it all. "How do you know all this?!"
Byakuya, of course, couldn't hear Zeke's words—but he could guess what both of them must be thinking.
He spoke again, voice cool and steady.
"Eren... I don't know what this rewritten story will do to your future self, but I do know one thing. Your mother, Carla... Grisha... Mikasa, the you of the past… All your friends—Sasha, Hange, Marco..."
"They'll all live. Just like Zeke's mother, Dina..."
Eren's eyes widened in disbelief.
Zeke stepped forward. "What did you say?!"
He couldn't believe it. How could this stranger possibly know about his mother? And even claim she could survive?
Dina had already been turned into a Pure Titan—how could she be saved now?
But unlike Zeke, Eren stayed calm. He knew he couldn't respond. This communication was one-sided. Only he could hear Byakuya's voice.
And somehow… Byakuya knew that, too.
Which meant—he also knew the past, the future, and perhaps more than Eren himself.
And more terrifyingly—he could act on it.