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Season 3Episode 45
Outside the Walls of Orvud District
The Scouts pursue the Anti-Personnel Control Squad through the Underground Chapel only to encounter the net the Interior Police had dropped during their retreat. On the other side, the Anti-Personnel Squad prepares for their last stand. However, the bright light from a Titan transformation shines from the back of the cavern, drawing the attention of Scout and MP alike.
Rod Reiss's transformation to a gargantuan Titan begins to cause the cavern to collapse. It is so large that there is not enough room for it to stand. Ackermann orders and to take the wounded to safety. Further inside the cavern, the partially restrained urges to escape and let her father eat him. Since Rod is part of the royal family, the Founding Titan will go back where it belongs. But Historia refuses to leave him, stating that she cannot accept someone saying that they are not needed when that is not true. No matter who or where that person is, she wants to rescue them.
She manages to open the locks around Eren's ankles, but is blown back by a blast of hot air from her father's Titan. manages to catch her before she slams in the wall behind her, and shortly after, the rest of Squad Levi arrives. Levi asks for the keys, and he, Kirschtein, and Conny Springer work to free Eren. Eren protests that they should leave him, but Jean tells him to shut up. They pull Eren free as part of the ceiling collapses and lands on the platform where Eren was chained just a moment before.
Kenny Ackermann swings away from the rising Titan, realizing that for all of Rod's boasting, he did not know much more about the Titans than anyone else. Traute calls out to him, and realizes to his horror that his squad has come further into the cavern. He shouts for them to get out of here.
Squad Levi finds themselves pressed back against the cavern walls with no clear way out. Eren stares at Rod's Titan in shock since it was supposed to eat him. He wonders if he should transform but realizes that his Titan could not survive the cavern's collapse. Eren apologizes to everyone and calls himself useless. Jean does not accept it though, pointing out that Eren has never accomplished anything by himself. Conny chimes in, reminding him that collectively they have been through worse.
The group plans their escape using omni-directional mobility gear and carrying both Eren and Historia. Eren does not think it is possible, but Historia refuses to do nothing. Levi grudgingly tells Eren that he needs to make a choice, reminding him of the choice he had made previously on whether to trust the original Squad Levi when the Female Titan pursued them. Chagrined, Eren grabs a bottle labeled "Armor" on the ground and charges at Rod's Titan. He breaks it between his teeth as he hopes he is allowed to believe in himself.
When he transforms, pillars of crystal rise up from the ground around his Titan, reinforcing the structural integrity of the cavern around it. Levi orders his squad to get underneath Eren. The Anti-Personnel Control Squad is not as fortunate. Traute Carven is struck down by debris and so is another soldier. Rod's Titan finally rises to its feet, breaking open the ceiling above it.
Outside, Armin and Moblit hurry away with Hange as the ground around them collapses and the surface chapel sinks into the earth. The rest of the Scout Regiment, led by , arrive in time to see the mammoth Titan crawl out of the ground and drag itself away on all fours. They estimate it is twice the size of the Colossal Titan.
Inside the cavern, Jean and Mikasa break Eren out of his Titan, which has completely turned into crystal. Once freed, he looks at the remains of his Titan in shock as Levi calls the effect "hardening." Even after cutting Eren out, his Titan has not gone away. Eren credits the bottle for the effect, but Levi points out that it was Eren who devised the means to save them by stabilizing the cavern. Levi suspects that the Walls were originally made this way as well. With this, they can now plug the hole in Wall Maria.
Conny and Braus descend through a hole in the ceiling to announce they have secured an exit route. Armin and Moblit help everyone out of the hole and Eren sees the destruction caused by Rod's Titan for the first time. It leaves a trail of scorched earth in its wake.
One of the Scouts with Erwin reports that the Titan is behaving like an Abnormal and they are not able to get close to it. Another announces that they have made contact with Squad Levi and they have succeeded in rescuing Eren and Historia. Levi informs Erwin that Hange is their own casualty. Hange is lying in a wagon, bleeding, but conscious. He also lets Erwin know that the Titan is Rod Reiss. Erwin decides that they will head for Orvud District, since that is the Titan's likely destination.
On their way there, Hange listens to Eren and Historia's recounting of what happened in the cavern and the restrictions in place for full use of the Founding Titan. Hange wonders if this is the First King's idea of peace. Eren says they still have the option of letting Rod Reiss eat him and return to being a human. Levi acknowledges that if they do that and capture Rod immediately afterward, they might have a chance to undo the First King's brainwashing. Historia, however, reminds them of their other option.
Now that the Founding Titan has been taken away from the Reiss family they have an unprecedented chance to change things for humanity. She believes that Eren's father was trying to save humanity, and took away the Founding Titan and murdered the Reiss family because he had no other choice. Eren remembers that when his father injected him, he told him that he would have to learn to control his ability if he wanted to save everyone. Mikasa adds that there must be another way to save humanity, and that is why his father left him the key to the basement.
Hange agrees with this plan, but asks Historia if she is all right with what it means, because they will have to kill her father. They cannot allow a Titan that large to roam free, nor can they restrain it. Historia thinks about it and then apologizes to Eren, saying that she really did consider becoming a Titan and eating him, not to save humanity but because she wanted to believe in her father. However, now she realizes it is time to say good-bye.
It is still the middle of the night when the Scouts arrive in Orvud. As they prepare for a strategy meeting, Levi informs Historia that under Erwin's orders she is to become the new Queen. Though the coup d'état was successful, the general public will not follow the military so they need a story about how the true heir took power back from a fake. The rest of the squad protests, not wanting Historia forced into another role just after she has broken free of her father, but Historia agrees. She says that it is up to her to decide whether or not she was forced into this, and she will do it under one condition.
When Historia attends the meeting she arrives geared for combat and takes her place among the rest of Squad Levi. Mikasa tells her she can punch Levi after she becomes Queen.
One of the Garrison soldiers confirms that the Titan is approaching them from the southwest and will arrive by dawn. Carsten asks Erwin what his plan is, and to his dismay, Erwin announces that they will not be evacuating the civilians and that they must stay where they are.