Reiner VS Cinder Fall is a Death Battle by Sinnovalos.
Description[]
Season 1 Episode 4! Attack on Titan VS RWBY! They infiltrated the ranks of the protagonists and betrayed their trust at a key moment in the story. But would the Armoured Titan tower over the Fall Maiden?
Interlude[]
Wiz: They say the worst part about betrayal is that it never comes from an enemy. Someone trusted by the younger members of the ranks turning their back on the team always leads to devestating consequences.
Boomstick: This is especially true when they go on to become one of the most reoccurring nemesis to the main characters throughout the rest of the story.
Wiz: Today, the traitors on trial are Reiner Braun - the warrior, and current host of the Armoured Titan in Attack on Titan.
Boomstick: And Cinder Fall, the pyrokinetic puppet behind the Fall of Beacon from RWBY. He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyse their weapons, armour and skill to find out who would win a Death Battle.
Reiner Braun[]
Wiz: The story of Attack on Titan is from the perspective of humans within the walls on the island of Paradis. However, the world really began to open up when characters such as Reiner, Annie, Bertholdt and Zeke were introduced, giving a new perspective in the series of what life was like not just outside the walls, but across the sea.
Boomstick: And pretty fucking terrible is more or less the right answer here. Across the sea was a confusing mess of countries snatching power and occupying the other. Marley was a country full of different sections and borders.
Wiz: One such district was the Liberio internment zone, where Reiner Braun hailed from. Born as the illegitimate child to a father from Marley, and Karina Braun, who was Eldian, Reiner was never permitted to see his father due to the illegitimacy of a relationship between a Marleyean and Eldian. To fix this, Reiner set about a long path of trying to earn his place as a Warrior candidate, looking to earn one of the Nine Titans' powers, and gain himself and his mother the status of Honourary Marleyans.
Boomstick: And, boy did Reiner ever suck. His one skill was loyalty to Marley. Great being a one club player, but when you also happen to not be able to sprint when holding gear, there's not too many people wanting to slap a Titan on that guy.
Wiz: Apparently not many, especially not Porco Galliard, who was in pole position to land the honour of becoming the Armoured Titan. With his current form not great, Reiner was going to have to seemingly wait another thirteen years to become the Armoured Titan he dreamed of becoming. That was, until, he began training more closely with Bertholdt and Annie, and his perfomances seemed to improve, and apparently, improve enough to become the new Armoured Titan!
Boomstick: Hold up! Where the hell did that come from?
Wiz: Oh, I must've forgotten Porco's own brother, Marcel, slandered the favourite for the position to the army, while also praising Reiner to the superiors. Marcel did this to save his own brother, which lead to the new Warriors being elected. They then set an example on another nation, crushing it entirely between the six of them. Perhaps the mightiest Warrior group was now upon the Marleyans, and was soon to be set on the Paradis Island in a scheme to recover the Founding Titan.
Boomstick: The Warriors split off from the military once they reached the island. And then the mission got off to about the worst possible start when Marcel became the breakfast of Ymir's Titan. Seeing his friend go out this way set something off in Reiner, and he was never the same after. He displayed masterful leadership as he played a pivotal role in the Fall of Wall Maria, and then in the follow up plan to infiltrate the army to get close to the King and locate the Founder.
Wiz: Getting into the positons needed was a breeze for Reiner, who at this point was a fantastic soldier, ranking second in the initial graduation. While in Paradis, surrounded by his sworn enemies, he fought alongside them, risking his life to keep the illusion alive. Things really began to unravel when Annie was discovered though, as not long after, the Scouts were also able to draw the conclusion about he and Bertholdt's secret identity.
Boomstick: After perhaps the most iconic reveal in anime histroy, Reiner and Bertholdt attempted to kidnap Eren Jaeger, after learning he had become the Founding Titan. The Scouts saved Eren, but Reiner and Bertholdt did at least succeed in capturing the Jaw Titan, Ymir, and recovering it.
Wiz: Reiner suffered another hard loss when the Scouts took back Wall Maria, being defeated by Hange's and Levi's squads, and narrowly escaping thanks to Zeke. He returned to Marley, thinking that he had left his nightmarish ordeal in Paradis behind him, until Eren brought it to his door, and he was betrayed by his superior, Zeke. He then became a crucial figure in Marley's counter attack following the terror attack on Liberio by Eren. He, along with Porco's Jaw Titan held the line against a driven pair of Jaeger brothers, before Eren and Zeke eventually came into contact.
Side Note: As a dub watcher, I have only reached the episode where Reiner and Porco got decked by Zeke and Zeke himself was shot in the nape. If Reiner does anything to alter the result of this battle after that episode, then I will update it.
Boomstick: So, what was there to this guy? Why was he seen as so special by the Marleyian army? Well, firstly, he was strong - even in human form he was able to lift a smaller titan over his shoulders, up a staircase and then out of the window. John Cena take a hike!
Wiz: He was also a more capable hand to hand fighter than when he started; going blow for blow with Eren and Annie. This skill was enhanced when he entered his Titan form - the Armoured Titan! Perhaps the second most iconic Titan behind the Colossus, the Armoured Titan specialised in the Hardening technique, covering its body in a protective shell, even using it as an offensive means by hardening around its knuckles. In this form, Reiner was also able to throw other Titans like they were child's play, and often with great precision.
Boomstick: Like the time he grabbed Eren's Attack Titan by the foot and slammed him overhead with just one arm!
Wiz: Right, or he could straight up use hit Armoured Titan to bulldoze enemy strongholds, such as the walls or artillery positions. It's easy to overstate, but simply being so big was a threat; merely running his hand on a wall could cause it to crumble, or a wayward punch could crush most of the human enemies he fought with ease.
Boomstick: No wonder this guy was so dangerous. Man, I bet Eren always struggled to beat Reiner's Titan.
The screen shows a quick montage of Reiner's Titan not beating Eren
Boomstick: Oh, never mind then.
Wiz: Don't let that fool you, Boomstick. Reiner lost to Eren in battles that were up Jaeger's alley; fistfights. Besides, Reiner's strength and mass makes him hardly the most agile foe; he was easily caught up to by horses and could struggle to out manover ODM gear too. But that wasn't the point of the Armour. It was meant to be a durable battering ram, sponging damage and hitting just as hard.
Boomstick: Yeah, I mean, the Scouts had to come up with a whole new weapon to beat that Armour! And it took several well placed shots to have any success... And Reiner still survived! Even when the attacks melted his body in places and left him limbless. What the hell does it actually take to kill a Titan wielder? Especially this guy!
The screen shows Reiner surviving losing an arm, getting an arm bitten into, having his neck cut, being blasted by cannons and Thunder Spears.
Boomstick: Incredible...
Wiz: Whether he was supposed to be the final warrior or not, Reiner turned it all around and became a worthy team member, and leader. If there was ever a right choice to spearhead a massive attack, Reiner Braun was certainly the best candidate.
Boomstick: Build your walls as high as you like; nothing is stopping him from tearing them down and making it home.
Reiner: Who cares? It is what it is. No choice but to face what I've done, as a warrior! No road left but the one that leads to the end!
Cinder Fall[]
Wiz: The world of Remnant is a weird place, full of different social classes, species, technology and magic. But if there is one thing that you can depend on, it's that it is not fair to all individuals. Once, a young girl called Cinder Fall had to scratch and claw to survive in the harsh, poorer community she lived in.
Boomstick: Cinder began her journey as a problem, getting into fights with the other kids before being sold on to a hotel owner in Atlas. Apparently, the slave owners had too high of a moral code to use Faunus (a species that was actually discriminated against) as their slaves and instead chose to put it all on Cinder. Sure, why not?
Wiz: The Glass Unicorn hotel apparently ran things very cheaply, so Cinder was the lone slave who carried out degrading chores and had any passion or rights trampled by her new evil stepmother and stepsisters.
Boomstick: It can't have been all bad, she did get a song about her time scrubbing the crapper and whatnot.
Wiz: Soon, Cinder grew a fascination for a regular to the hotel, Rhodes. He was a huntsman, and Cinder envied their freedom. After stealing his sword, Rhodes decided to take Fall under his wing and prepare her for the Huntsman exams she would take when she was older.
Boomstick: He did WHAT?
Wiz: He took Fall under his wing-
Boomstick: A professional Huntsman, who saw and understood Cinder was being abused, chose to LET HER SUFFER and rather than improve her situation, taught her how to use a sword, and gifted her one, while making her stay with her abusers?
Wiz: Listen, Boomstick, the fans demanded Cinder's backstory - and the show gave it, no one said it was going to be bulletproof. And besides, the more frustrating parts of this character are yet to come.
Boomstick: After murdering her sisters and boss, in a surprise to no one, Cinder turned her blades on her mentor, Rhodes. And she killed him too! Sweet! Remember, kids, murder is the BEST way to counter abuse.
Wiz: At an unknown time, Cinder hooked up with fellow mass murderer Salem, and after removing her shackles from being a slave to the Atlas elites... became a slave to Salem's cause.
Boomstick: *Sigh*
Wiz: Cinder was power hungry, and was willing to do whatever it took to become strong. She captured some of the Fall Maiden's powers in an ambush, and then helped to oversee the downfall of Beacon Academy in Vale, at a cost to her health. But also by taking the life of the most promising prospect and Fall Maiden elect, Pyrrha Nikos. She even took down Ozpin in the vault of his own school as well - she is not to be underestimated.
Boomstick: Resulting in her second big L. Though she did have the best fight of the volume. She ended up losing an arm and an eye, but these were both small setbacks to Fall, who gained the entirety of the Fall Maiden powers, and would continue her master's bidding, siding with Raven Branwen to steal the Relic of Knowledge from Haven's vault.
Wiz: And, if not for the intervention from Blake Belladonna, she would have masterminded a mirrored result to the Fall of Beacon, with her coordinating the White Fang's assault. Alas, she was bested by Raven inside the Spring Maiden's Chamber, being frozen and sent into the abyss.
Boomstick: But don't worry, Cinder fans; she came back the next volume as the perfect excuse to bring back fan favourite, and generally unneccessary character, Neo. But Fall was up against it, and in need to improve her performance in Salem's eyes.
Wiz: Infiltrating Atlas, Cinder attempted to snatch the Winter Maiden's powers, and was charged with capturing Penny Polendina. While she did fail again, Salem overlooked all her failures and sent her to free Watts. In this time, Cinder was able to rally the team and helped oversee a massive defeat for Team RWBY, besting the team in combat and retrieving the relics from the huntresses, dooming Atlas to fall under the might of Salem's faction.
Boomstick: Saying Cinder was responsible for the fall of Atlas may be a stretch, Wiz, I think Team RWBY can chalk that up as their point.
Wiz: In any case, Cinder profitted from the chaos, and as of the start of Volume 9, has two relics and the Fall Maiden powers to her name.
Boomstick: And you know what? For as much as we have taken the piss, Cinder has actually been an impressive fighter. For a start, she uses an ancient technique called Glass, creating disguises, but also making weapons such as blades and bows.
Wiz: These weapons are often infused with her Maiden powers, such as the arrows from her bow exploding, or her blades being laced with fire.
Boomstick: Her skill with a blade was so good she held Raven Branwen to a stalemate. Shit, even as a ten year old she was able to best Rhodes - a seasoned Huntsman!
Wiz: She can also used her Glass to swarm in shards, creating a ranged option, or to increase her blade's size, and strength. Not that Fall's own body strength is anything to scoff at; she could dangle Arthur Watts off a roof with one arm, holding him merely by the collar, and her durability - for all her losses - should be commended.
Boomstick: Yeah, while she is protected by Aura, over her human body at least, she was still able to survive having an arm and eye removed by Silver Eyes, and in her fight with Raven was able to live after having a giant rock drop from the ceiling land on her head.
Wiz: As the Fall Maiden, Cinder shows particular efficiency with fire. This can come from streams of flame from a hand, explosions of fire, and can be applied in multiple ways, such as flight. Her flames are so hot that they can disintegrate foes with just a touch, though this was only done once to an incapacitated opponent.
Boomstick: Cinder's Grimm arm can be used to steal other Maiden's powers, as she attempted on Vernal and Raven, but the problem is that her Aura can't protect it; so she is more weak in that spot. Luckily, she can regenerate it if she takes too much damage.
Wiz: Which is kind of a must for Cinder; her fighting style is rash and aggressive, meaning she takes a lot of damage. In fact, having such a blatant weakness probably makes it more impressive that she went blow for blow with Raven, Penny, Winter and Team RWBY. If Cinder was only more consistent, the show would have a lot different of a tone by now.
Boomstick: Yeah, though it is hard to see where Cinder goes from Volume 8 onwards, she has guaranteed destruction and chaos wherever she ends up.
Wiz: In a nutshell, Cinder is flawed, and has gaping weaknesses, but she is also a talented fighter who sepcialises in fast paced, hard hitting combat, often overwhelming her opponents defences with unrelenting assaults. She's a capable leader, and as ambitious as they come. While she has often ended up on the losing end, her opponents have had to give her everything they had, and more, to get over the line.
Cinder Fall: It's nothing personal, dear. You're just not worthy of such power. But I am...
Intermission[]
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set. Let's end this debate once and for all.
Boomstick: It's time for a Death Battle!
Fight[]
Location: Wall Maria - Abandoned (Attack on Titan)
Reiner stood alone atop the wall, looking down on the district he and Bertholdt had helped to bring chaos to, how many years had it been? He clutched the side of his head, a wave of confused emotions tackling him. "Too long." he grumbled, disgusted at himself, at the people who had lived inside the walls, and this cruel world for making people just like him, and just like those inside the walls.
This would normally be where Bertholdt or Annie would have grabbed him by the shoulders and shook sense into him, or perhaps something stronger from Annie. But tonight, he was alone. Bertholdt and Zeke were still doing the rounds and were yet to report back to their camp. And Annie was, well, she could have been anywhere. Reiner stared off into the night, before putting his hand around his cooling cup of tea, annoyed he had let it spoil in his trance.
There was a slight hiss as his hand picked up the cup. "Son of a-" he exclaimed, dropping it to the floor. He looked at his hand, burned, but generally unharmed. He then looked down at the cup, steam rising from the spilled tea, and then he noticed something more; the cup itself had melted out of shape. Reiner looked around for an answer to his problem, and when he looked right he saw a hooded figure, with one hand extended and the glaring orange of a flame in her palm.
Reiner turned entirely to face her, but the hooded figure extended a beast like arm through the darkness, which grabbed his neck and pushed him onto his back, strangling him. "Hello, Warrior. I have a few questions for you." she smirked, peeling back the hood to reveal her scarred face. "Reiner..."
Reiner struggled against the Fall Maiden's stretched arm, twisting and trying to pry it off him, but to no avail. He glared up at Cinder, who walked towards him with a malicious smirk. "Where are they keeping Annie Leonhart? My master has an interest in her and the power of the Female Titan."
He struggled a little more against the Grimm arm, before looking her dead in the eye. "Who the hell is Annie Leonhart?"
"That's cold, Reiner. I know how much she means to you. Maybe I should wait for the tall one to return and see if he is more... acquainted with her." Cinder hissed, lifting Reiner off his feet. Realising the threat to himself and his fellow warriors, Reiner quickly drew two blades, cross cutting Cinder's Grimm arm off and freeing himself. "Enough! You will not threaten my comrades again!" he declared, charging at Cinder, who created two glass swords of her own, before springing from her starting position and right into Reiner, their blades clashing in a fierce collision.
FIGHT!
Cinder was supremely confident, pushing all her weight against Reiner, who appeared to buckle against the assault. Managing to bend his posture almost forty-five degrees, Reiner grunted, before his firm grip became more loose. Surprising the Fall Maiden, he pulled his arms open and grabbed her, throwing her over his head in a belly to belly suplex. Cinder skidded across the stone wall, throwing a ball of fire at Reiner, who narrowly evaded the assault, charging Cinder head on. He kicked the still burning metal cup at Cinder, who sliced it in half. She then went low, spinning and kicking Reiner's knees out from beneath him. He fell to his front, before trying to spring up with the hilt of his blade, grazing Cinder's face. The Fall Maiden allowed him to reach the full height of his ascent, his feet almost entirely off the floor, meaning he couldn't avoid the next attack.
She grabbed Reiner's chest with her Grimm arm and pulled him in, right onto a fireball that was charged in her other palm. Reiner yelled out as the heat burst at close range, singeing his shirt and throwing him to the deck. His chest smoked from the wound, with Cinder not wasting time in throwing a glass sword at him, it spinning before it jammed into his stomach. Reiner grunted, falling to a knee. He was going to have no choice here; he would have to transform soon! He looked up, Cinder filling his vision with fire as she scorched the side of his face, before using her second glass sword to lock blades with Reiner's gear. She spun him around, using her flight to force the issue, before planting the sword into Reiner's back, the sword coming out just under his heart.
Reiner spat blood, but continued to fight. He had to become a hero! This was what he had built towards! He stood up, but Cinder grabbed both his swords in her hand. With a smirk, flames appeared from her hand and snapped the swords clean in half. She kicked Reiner in the face. And again. And again. Reiner's own blood showered down on him as he took the punishment. Cinder grabbed his chin. "I'll wait for Bertholdt here, and when he arrives, I will cut the answers from him." She pulled him to his feet, and then used her Grimm arm to suspend him over the ruined district below. "And then the power of the Titans will be under my control."
"What the hell... are you talking about?" Reiner spat. "If we don't know where she is... what the hell makes you think they'll tell you?"
Cinder gritted her teeth. "Force will be enough. And thanks to the stunt you all pulled, their entire military and government is at a loss for who to trust." she then weakned her grip on him. Reiner realised this was a critical moment. Using his ODM gear, gear he knew he should have discared, gear obtained during his counterfeit comradeship, he aimed for the wall, his hooks shooting out and gripping beneath Cinder's feet. Reiner pulled himself under Cinder's Grimm arm. These devils, the people he was sworn to eliminate, had saved him again - for now.
Not one to dwell on ceremony, Cinder kicked the hooks out of the wall, and then stomped on Reiner's face as he reached the wall, sending him into free fall. "No..." Reiner gasped, running his hand against the wall as he fell. Cinder turned away from him, not paying the hollow warrior any more mind. And that was when a massive burst of electricity came from behind her lighting up the whole area. Cinder turned around in shock, two giant hands lay beside her, palms pressed into the stone. And looking her dead in the eye was the face of the Armoured Titan...
"What the hell!" Cinder snapped. Leaping up to avoid a swipe from the Titan. She knew he was a whole different ball game now, but the desire to potentially steal this frightening form compelled her to stay. She clasped her hands together, and from her finger tips created a ball of fire much larger than before. Reiner had just about pulled himself up entirely on the wall now, and she let go of her attack, striking his back knee. Smoke spilled from the attack, and Reiner stopped, looked down, and dusted off the knee. Cinder's eye widened in terror as it then went to flatten her under his hand. She created a giant sword in her hands, if size was the factor here, then she'd meet him half way! In she flew dragging the sword up his left side, connecting with his cheek. Reiner swayed oh so slightly, but attacked back, ripping up an abandoned cannon, and throwing it at Cinder, who weaved to dodge.
Her large, fiery blade came forth, stabbing at Reiner's chest. The Armour protected him from harm, and now Cinder's upgraded blade was stuck! Reiner's hand snapped it, leaving only a fragment behind. Cinder leapt from the wall, using pyrokinesis to launch her to cover inside a house. Reiner smirked. "Out of ideas already?" he observed, leaping down from the high ground. His aim was to crush the house Cinder was using, along with the Fall Maiden. He landed with a terrible thud, the calamitous sound of collapsing wood and plaster audible from every corner of this district. Several buildings nearby felt the brunt of the shock, windows shattered and parts of the walls gave way, but when Reiner stood back to his feet, he had a suspicion he had not achieved his goal.
Next thing he knew, three arrows hit his body - stuck across the right of his jaw. "Arrows?" Reiner thought, underestimating the attack a little. As he turned to Cinder, the arrows blew up in a sheet of flame, singeing his face. Cinder smirked, flying to his left side and peppering his face with more fireballs, before creating a swarm of glass shards, guiding them with precision towards Reiner's eyes and mouth. The arms of the Titan shielded him from the final sequence, but Cinder was content with her outburst, letting the smoke clear from the attack. Bad call. Reiner's fist hammered into the floor just before her, the impact sending her into the air. She tried to regain her bearings, but Reiner's other arm hammered through, swatting the Maiden into the side of a house, leaving a crack in the now dented wall. Cinder heaved as she struggled to even reach her knees - what strength! She checked she was still all in one piece, her Grimm arm was broken, and she knew her aura would not save her from a second hit like that. Reiner prepared to charge into her, looking to trample her to death.
As he closed in, Cinder fired out a column of fire, propelling herself across the floor as Reiner hit the building, bringing it down. Cinder began her approach, fire guiding her as she looked to capitalise on the work she had done to his jaw earlier. Reiner threw a slab of roof at her, but she dodged with ease. He then went to redirect her path by scattering smaller bits of debris in her path, but Cinder cut through with a second large sword. Reiner looked to strike her, but the sword blocked the attack, and his arm proved a good path for the final sequence of her approach. She ran up the forearm, throwing fire at his face to obstruct his line of sight. As she leapt to his shoulder, she changed her target from his eye to his opened mouth. She created a glass sword in his mouth, expanding it and looking to force the mouth open. She then sent flames down the hatch, looking to use the smoke in an effort to choke the Titan.
"Bitch! She's wants to smoke me out." Reiner thought, realising what was happening. He brought his hands to his mouth, trying to move her away, but Cinder flew off, landing on the nearby abandoned pub as a staging area. Reiner spat the sword out of his mouth, and fell to a knee, seemingly gasping for air. This was Cinder's opening! Reiner was down, looking for clean air! She flew in, a wolfish smirk on her face as she looked to claim the life of the Armoured Titan. She closed in, and then suddenly, an arm reached out and plucked her out the air.
Cinder squirmed; the massive palm of Reiner grabbing her lower body, and holding her out to the side of him. He curled the fist, trapping Cinder entirely in his grip. Desperate, and not wanting to go out this way, Cinder blasted flames up at Reiner's face, but his second hand clasped in front of the fire, blocking it as he reached in with his second hand to deliver a finishing blow. Cinder panicked, kicking and thumping the palm prison of the Armoured Titan. Before she knew it, Braun's second hand grabbed her upper half. With a terrible scrunch, and a loud splat, Cinder's innards were forced outwards, her body twisted and mangled, as well as in two seperate halves. Reiner dragged her body with him into the open field, where the Beast Titan itself was stood waiting for him.
"What is this, Reiner?" Zeke quizzed, adjusting his glasses. "A spy of some variety; she said she wanted Annie and the power of the Female Titan." Reiner responded, coming out of the nape of his Titan. "I had to put her down or she may have unraveled the plan to the Scouts."
"You did well, my warrior. Discard her remains into the trees, whatever her goals were mean nothing to a starved Titan." Zeke ordered. Bertholdt used his ODM gear to land on the Armoured Titan's shoulder, helping his comrade down and carrying a half of Cinder's corpse himself. As Zeke predicted, the closest Titan in the wooded area ate well that afternoon.
KO!
Conclusion[]
Boomstick: Like swatting a pesky, pyrokinetic fly! Not that Cinder didn't give a good try.
Wiz: This battle was certainly interesting to break down, not least of all thanks to the sheer difference in Reiner's forms and his capabilities. In his bare human form, despite him being ranked second behind Mikasa during his training, his ODM gear was no match for Cinder's on demand Glass manipulation, Fall Maiden powers and her own means of movement. He could possibly match her in strength bouts; his ability to lift a 3 meter titan, amongst other consistent lifting feats such as carrying Armin, while fatigued, or out wrestling Annie were more than enough to validate him hanging in there. But none of that would factor much against a sheet of flames - in the early goings, Cinder could quite easily have destroyed the warrior before he found a groove.
Boomstick: But the battle was not going to end in a simple test of Reiner's brawn. Cinder would have likely been able to cut down Reiner in his human form... If she could land a fatal blow before his transformation was too far along.
Wiz: Which would be unlikely given how quick Reiner was able to pull the trigger and transform, just ask Levi or Mikasa, who both struggled to silence him pre transformation on seperate occasions; one being where he lost a hand and had a blade stuck in his arm and the other being a blade straight into his neck. Once Reiner transformed, Cinder had a gigantic problem on her hands.
Boomstick: She could move around him well enough, as Reiner's titan isn't really the fastest, the problem for Cinder is that it wasn't exactly the flimsiest either. Cinder's flight patterns would be similar to the Scouts' use of ODM gear, flightly manouvers around the blind spots of the titan while trying to soften up his defences.
Wiz: Her Glass and Fire could certainly test Reiner, but a decisive blow was always going to be a step too far. Reiner's defences withstood several hammering blows from Eren's titan in various battles, as well as sponging several Thunder Spears - weapons created purely to breach his armour. Yes, they did get through in the end, but Reiner himself was still safe - and he was dealing with several squads of enemies, unlike this situation where Cinder was alone.
Boomstick: Cinder couldn't really match the precision or the damage output of a Thunder Spear either, and certainly not a whole squad's worth of them. Her explosive arrows from Volume 3 were barely enough to damage a simple dirt path - which may be why the writers chose to forget that attack as the Volumes went on. Meanwhile, Reiner would have little trouble breaching Cinder's own defences. There was the obvious size difference, and the strength gap that came with it. Cinder was capable of lifting adult men such as Arthur Watts, or being able to physically control the battle against Rhodes as a child.
Wiz: Both of which were great feats, but she was never matching the strength behind someone who could lift 15 meters, and 1,250 pounds of Attack Titan, with one hand, overhead, or the several larger titans he threw at the retreating Scouts in Season 2, from an unfavorable position, and quite possibly only a single arm.
Boomstick: I mean, really, did you see some of the guys he was flinging? They were easily taller than Eren's titan and definitely had more weight to them based on their evident width.
Side Note: There is more to it than Reiner could lift the heavier people; in his armoured form he was able to break apart pieces of the Warhammer Titan's spikes, several times the size of himself, and fashion it into a giant spear with enough force to charge Eren's titan into a building. Cinder could possibly try meeting it with her giant blades - as demonstrated against Raven - but their effectiveness is dubious, as they would be no thicker or well protected than the Warhammer's own fashioned swords, made from similar material to the aforementioned spikes.
Wiz: No, strength alone isn't the main difference, but it is a great starting point for the sheer difference between the two combatants, and goes some way showing just how stacked the odds were against Cinder.
Boomstick: Reiner cake walked durability; him surviving several titan vs titan battles help solidify this, even the many ones he actually loses. It would take more force to drive Reiner to the brink than it would Cinder. Not to say Cinder would be hopeless; she is one resilient snide, as seen with her surviving the large boulders in Volume 5, her surviving, though being grievously wounded by Ruby's Silver Eyes in Volume 3, and enduring physical torture from Salem. But Cinder takes a lot less to get to her breaking point. Reiner's armour can be damaged and splintered, but he himself is hardly ever left compromised.
Wiz: Meanwhile, whenever Cinder's own defences are tested, she is left very open and often only survives because someone else could get her to safety, usually in the form of Emerald and Neo, or sheer dumb luck like when Raven left her for dead in Volume 5.
Boomstick: Adaptability definitely went to Cinder, who could change weapons more freely than Reiner and opt to attack from a variety of angles and ranges.
Wiz: But none of that adaptability would matter if Reiner wasn't going down. And she was certainly the faster combatant, or rather more free moving one. Reiner could sprint quite quickly, but he couldn't outrun Scouts who were limited ODM gear, who had just been wrong footed and needed to refigure their movement. He also couldn't consistently outrun the horses of the Scouts, despite having a head start and having spent time resting beforehand.
Boomstick: Cinder's speed meanwhile allowed her to cover great ground in her battles with Winter and Penny. And it allowed her to minimise recovery time after big hits. But this time, rather than two gushy BFFs, Cinder would be trying to buy time against an unrelenting warrior.
Wiz: Fall would have no choice but to get close, something she would know to be risky but she's never shown to be one to shy out of a chance like that. Reiner would simply just have to play the waiting game and then let his size and strength do all the talking. This took the element of intelligence out of the battle as the match came down to simple blows and plans. Cinder was to stick and move, whereas Reiner was to tough it out and catch the misstep in her assault.
Boomstick: And when the roles were that simple, the result was of course going to be in a similar vein.
Wiz: It'd take Marley's Shield several minutes perhaps, but Cinder's stamina, weaker durability, and predictably erratic attack patterns would betray her in the end, leaving her open to a lethal counter.
Boomstick: When the clock struck Midnight, there were no twists left in this tale.
Wiz: The winner is Reiner Braun!
Custom Track[]
