Losers

The Defeated is the fourth chapter in the seventh volume of Shingeki no Kyojin and the 30th chapter overall.

Summary
Rivaille, on his way to find Eren, sees the broken bodies of his subordinates. He stops at the tree where Petra's body lays and with a sad look on his face, takes a moment to mourn his team.

After witnessing the female titan tear Eren from his titan body and and take him in her mouth, Mikasa has been chasing her to exhaustion and attacking her every step of the way. When the titan collapses, Mikasa seizes the opportunity and goes for her weak spot. However, she again hardens her skin, making the attack useless and breaking Mikasa's blades. Determined to save Eren, Mikasa reloads her sword and prepares for another round of attacks. The female titan launches an unsuccessful attack and goes on the retreat again. Mikasa attempts to pursue her again, only to be caught midair by Rivaille who orders her to fall back. His plan is to trail her from a distance for the time being.

Rivaille asks Mikasa about Eren. She insists that he's still alive, as several chances to simply crush him and instead extracted his body. With this information, she believes that her mission was to kidnap Eren instead. Rivaille makes another comment considering Eren to be dead, which draws a dirty look from Mikasa. Angry from the whole ordeal, Mikasa blames Rivaille for Eren's kidnapping. Seeing the closeness between the two, Rivaille says that they will have to forget about taking the titan down and instead put all of their effort into saving Eren. Initially wanting revenge for the fallen scouts, she agrees that they must save him before the titan leaves the forest. Rivaille devises a plan; he will focus on cutting her up and Mikasa will draw her attention.

With everything planned, Mikasa charges out to distract the titan and Rivaille quickly moves in behind. The titan doesn't fall for it and turns to attack Rivaille. He dodges the strike and slices her up nearly the entire length of her arm. He then runs up her shoulder and stabs her in both of her eyes. With her now blinded, Rivaille continues his assault, slicing through the muscles in her legs causing her to fall to the ground. Mikasa watches in amazement at his speed, noting that the titan doesn't even have time to harden her skin to defend against it. Believing she has an opening, she moves in to attack the nape of her neck. Noticing what she's doing, Rivaille calls out for her to stop. Either not hearing or not caring, Mikasa continues on course, too late in noticing the left hand of the Titan moving toward her. Immediately, Rivaille is there to stop the left hand and knocks Mikasa out of the way. Mikasa looks up at him in amazement. In almost the same instant, he takes advantage of the titans helpless state and cuts through both of her cheeks and the muscles in her jaw. Unable to keep him hidden any longer, her mouth falls open and Eren starts to slide out. Rivaille swoops in and grabs him. Carrying Eren's unconscious body, he orders Mikasa to withdraw. Noticing the worry on her face, he ensures her that Eren is alive. As they head back to the other scouts, Rivaille takes a look back and sees what appear to be tears in the female titans eyes.

Regaining consciousness, Eren finds himself in the back of a cart on his way back to the walls of the city. Still reeling from everything that happened, he sees Mikasa and asks what happened. After she delivers the upsetting news that the mission was a failure, they reach Hermiha District. With the scouts visibly broken and mournful, the city is surprised to them back so soon, with many mocking and complaining that their taxes are wasted on the Scouting Legion. Spotting a couple of kids climb a ladder to see the soldiers, Mikasa and Eren are upset as memories of their childhood surface. Petra's father, unaware of the news, spots Rivaille. He thanks him for taking care of his daughter and talks about his future hopes for her. Other people in the crowd begin to yell at Commander Irvin, bringing up the soldiers that were lost and making sarcastic remarks about his plans to recover Wall Maria. Eren begins to weep in the back of the cart. Due to the massive failure, the Scouting Legion lost supporters. Commander Irvin was summoned to the capital and held accountable, while Eren was to be handed over to the authorities.