Pure darkness engulfed him, and with what felt like humiliating pain, Levi resisted the constriction with all the strength that his powerful, compact body could muster. He held out long enough; once the muscles in its arm were thoroughly lacerated, he had the opportunity to rip himself from the titan's hold.

His dropped torch had snuffed out, and Mikasa's — with the jerking unsteadiness of its position — made the light inside the expansive hall unreliably wild. Levi needed a second or two to orient himself, then he loosed a second blade and spun counterclockwise around the pillar in time to see the titan with its lopsided smile extending an oversized hand towards her.

Cables flew, each one zipping high and sticking to seperate pillars behind his target. The moment seemed to slow, but Levi moved as swiftly as he ever had, delivering a flurry of whirling strikes, chopping tendins in its knees, then sheering both upper arms before crossing his blades at its face, jamming the length of them into both eyes. The titan shrieked at a startlingly high pitch, and Levi finished his manuever by kicking out at its forehead, sending it toppling back.

Levi retracted his wires and landed in a crouch. If Mikasa wanted it, the finishing blow was hers.