Attack on Titan: Kuklo Unbound

As he expected, it was extreme. She dashed around Kuklo to hide.

“You don’t need to worry, that business isn’t valid anymore. I’d opposed my father’s plans, anyway, so I think that makes us something like friends.”

“Friends?” The word seemed to calm Sharle. She looked relieved.

“I might have been spared a prison sentence if I’d stayed in the Training Corps like a good boy.”

As luck would have it, Cardina had left the Training Corps just as Bruno, his father, had walked into a trap laid by his political opponents. He’d probably have avoided a sojourn behind bars simply by sweating his days away as a recruit. Even politicians couldn’t touch a member of the Training Corps, which was overseen by the Military Police Brigade.

Jorge would never have allowed it, either, Kuklo reasoned. The instructor hoped to see the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment in action, and training new recruits was his first priority. Besides, Cardina had been talented enough to contend for the top ten. There was not a chance Jorge would have surrendered him to politicians.

“So! Can I finally start talking about the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment?” Xenophon intervened with a forced cough in a blatant attempt to change the topic. He was so impatient to introduce the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment that his eyes glimmered like a child’s.

He was met by resistance from none other than Jorge. “I think this is enough for today. Both of you must be tired, yes?”

Kuklo and Cardina seconded this without a moment’s hesitation.

Xenophon looked displeased. “It would be helpful if you could provide feedback on how the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment handles,” he insisted.

Defeated by everyone else’s silence, he threw up his arms.

***

“I’m relieved,” Kuklo muttered, gazing about the room. He had no idea how Sharle had fared after Shiganshina, but the workshop seemed to be treating her well.

I’m not so sure about Xenophon, though. Even then, next to the likes of Xavi and Dario, the workshop chief was decent.

“I think I’m a lot more relieved than you are,” Sharle accused with a dry laugh, then sat down on one of the beds. “I’m shocked you were with someone from the Baumeister family, though. Where did you two meet?”

“In prison,” Kuklo replied, eliciting an oh and a nod of understanding from Sharle. Rumors of the Baumeister family’s fate had been circulating in the underground city, so the outcome was no surprise. “Believe it or not, he used to be in the Training Corps,” Kuklo told her.

“He was a recruit?!” No doubt having pegged him as a spoiled heir, Sharle’s eyes went wide with surprise. Her reaction was worth a chuckle, but Kuklo had received a similar first impression.

“He isn’t a bad person.”

“Well, yes, I can tell, somehow,” Sharle answered with a smile, but her face soon darkened. “The Training Corps…”

“Is something the matter?”

“You’re going to enter the training academy, aren’t you?”

“I suppose,” Kuklo said noncommittally. He hadn’t made the choice for himself so he was hardly to blame, but that wasn’t what bugged Sharle.

“If you join, that means you’ll be with my brother…”

So that’s what. Sharle’s complaint wasn’t that Kuklo wanted to become a soldier. It was that he’d be reunited with Xavi. Her anxiety was only natural considering how the two had parted ways.

“It’s not as though we’ll be alone,” Kuklo reassured her. Meeting Xavi back in the shed would be one thing, but the academy hosted many trainees. Xavi couldn’t attempt anything rash. Things aren’t like they were then, either.

Kuklo’s eye fell on his wrists. The sensation of the shackles once on his arms and legs still remained with him. Though seldom aware of it, listening closely now he even heard the metallic jingling of the chains, and just like that, he was brought back to the days of abuse he’d suffered as a Titan’s son. The countless wounds engraved on his body began to throb.

Kuklo balled his fists tight and drove the memories out of his mind.

Nothing holds me down now. He wouldn’t let Xavi pull ahead of him, either. “Apparently he’s good enough to apply to become an MP,” he said.

“My brother?”

“I can’t imagine him as one, though.” The Military Police were the elite who stood at the top of the military. The majestic figure that Jorge cut sufficed to convey their special status. Kuklo couldn’t imagine Xavi wearing the unicorn emblem on his back; letting him do so would jeopardize the Brigade’s dignity.

“It’s because he’s weirdly confident,” Sharle noted.

“Confident?”

“Well, he thinks he beat a Titan’s son.”

“Oh. I see…”

It was a truly annoying thing for Kuklo to hear, but subduing a Titan’s son did seem like an invaluable experience for a recruit. One could say Dario’s scenario had worked out well for Xavi.

“In any case, this is the last foolish thing I do,” Kuklo said, sitting down next to Sharle.

“I’m betting you’ll never stop.”

“I will, really. I know exactly what my goal is.”

“Your goal?”

“Killing Ogre.”

Sharle looked inquiringly at Kuklo, and he began to explain his connection to the Titan. Ogre and Kuklo’s family were bound by chains of misfortune.

“That’s why I have to kill Ogre with the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment. That will be what finally severs our bond.”

“Ogre…” Sharle briefly sank into thought before speaking again. “I may have seen that Titan.”

“Seen it? Where?!”

“It was a long time ago─” Sharle began, telling Kuklo of the time she climbed atop Wall Maria on a family trip. The Titan she saw then was large, a ten-meter-class, and resembled a skinny twenty year old. The most lasting impression, though, was its smile. It sounded a lot like Ogre, the Titan that was Kuklo’s sworn enemy. “I’ll never forget what it looked like,” she said, finishing her story.

“Yeah.” The Titan was frightening enough to give Kuklo nightmares, so it was a given that a young Sharle would fear it.

“But I guess I should thank that Titan in some small way,” she said.

“Why is that?”

“If I’d never seen it, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that you weren’t a Titan’s son.” Sharle took out a familiar object from her pocket. It was the Iron Bamboo paring knife she kept as a charm.

That’s why I didn’t have to get killed that night… Sharle, knife in hand, had visited him with an intent to do harm the first time they’d met in the shed. If she hadn’t seen the Titan from the wall, she might have mistaken Kuklo for a genuine child of the monsters.

“You hold on to this, Kuklo. I’m sure it’ll come in handy.”

Sharle held out the knife and Kuklo took it from her. Right away, he clutched the sheath and pulled out the blade. Its sharpness evident, the knife that could rend even Titan flesh shone an unclouded silver. Kuklo had no idea how effective it was as a charm, but already having saved him more than once, the weapon was worthy of his trust.

Maybe it can sever my ties to the Titans, too. Perhaps a knife alone wasn’t sufficient for felling a Titan, but if he learned from Jorge and mastered the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, it didn’t seem impossible, either.

Then again, Kuklo didn’t have much of a clue about the machine. Not the faintest…

***

While a good part of him hoped he could just sleep in, Xenophon summoned him before he could relax even a little more.

“Can’t I at least spend one day in bed?”

Kuklo couldn’t but grumble, but he was in Xenophon and the workshop’s debt for a night’s room and board. Given what they had done for Sharle too, he couldn’t simply refuse.

I do want to see the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment. Said to be the definitive anti-Titan armament but known for remaining completely unused, the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment was a fascinating tool indeed. For Kuklo, who wished to sever his bond to the Titans, it promised to be an indispensable device.

Though excitement filled him, he felt just as anxious. The reason was simple. The workshop chief created it.

The Vertical Maneuvering Equipment was an invention co-developed by Xenophon and Angel based on the Equipment. While Jorge had given it his guarantee, its performance seemed questionable in more ways than one. Kuklo’s doubts were backed up by the fact that no one had been able to control the machine.

It worries me, but… If he needed it in order to defeat the Titans, he had no choice but to master the tool.

As soon as he opened the door to the chief’s office, Xenophon greeted Kuklo, applauding. The blazing glint in the chief’s eyes more than hinted at his jubilance that the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment was going to be tested out.

Also present were Cardina, Jorge, and Sharle.

“Now that our leading man is here, why don’t we have him get dressed?” the workshop chief cut to the chase, pointing to the soldier’s uniform lying on a table. It consisted of three pieces: a shirt, trousers, and a jacket. The khaki jacket bore the emblem of the Training Corps, two crossed swords. “It should be the right size. Try it on.”

Kuklo followed Xenophon’s instructions and put on the shirt and trousers. The cotton clothes, light yet warm, fit him so well they felt like a part of his body.

“Hey, you look pretty good in those,” Cardina observed.

“When were you able to get these, though?”

It was Jorge who answered Kuklo. “I had a hunch you’d want to become a soldier. I ordered them in advance.”

“These fit awfully well…” The uniform felt like an extension of his own skin, yet they had never taken his measurements. He felt completely unrestricted.

Sharle answered next, but not with words. She simply looked away from Kuklo, but her reaction was enough.

So that’s what. She knew his measurements. Xenophon must have gotten all sorts of information out of her.

“You seem to have seen the light, so could you try wearing this next?” Xenophon took the harness off of the mannequin it sat on and presented it to Kuklo.

The harness stretched from the shoulders to the back and the legs, even down to the toes. On first sight, it resembled a straightjacket. Somewhat distrustfully, Kuklo began to strap it to his body.

“The harness is like a bit and bridle. A rider controls the bridle to stimulate the bit and make a horse follow orders. If we translate this to the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, you could say the harness is the bit and bridle, while the equipment itself is the horse,” Xenophon explained as he attached the machine’s main unit to Kuklo’s waist. “And these things placed on both sides of your hips are for firing anchors.”

Kuklo looked at his waist and saw contraptions that looked like saddlebags.

“You’ve already experienced that feature.”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s what pulled us up from outside the wall,” Cardina assisted.

“That thing came from one of these?”

“They fire anchors into targets and pull your body along by reeling in the wires attached to them. These controllers are used to manage them.”

Xenophon handed Kuklo two devices that looked like saber hilts. Instead of a hand guard, the controllers had levers that could be used to reel in wires. As with the old Equipment, the controls were so simple that even Kuklo could understand them without having to ask twice. “It’s quite simple,” he ventured.

“Of course it is!” Xenophon said, his chest puffed out with pride. “The machine’s structure may be complex, but make it as simple as possible to control. Inventions come from a desire to simplify difficult operations, after all.”

Kuklo got that, but one thing still troubled him and he pointed it out: “I can’t attack if both of my hands are full.” Even if he made use of the controllers to move freely in space, he’d never be able to defeat Titans if he had no way of attacking them.

“That was actually one problem with the old Equipment.” Xenophon seemed to have been expecting the question, as his tone grew lively without skipping a beat. “The controllers look like sword hilts because they also act as weapons.”

“Weapons? These?” Kuklo checked them out again, but they just looked like saber hilts missing their blades. He didn’t detect any special machinery in them, either.

“Please place the controllers in the scabbards.”

As soon as Kuklo placed them in the scabbards at his sides as Xenophon instructed, there was a clicking sound and a slight vibration in his palms. Some feature seemed to have been activated. When Kuklo looked at Xenophon, the chief nodded back as if to say, You’ll see when you pull them out.

Kuklo gripped the hilts once again and drew them slowly. Two thin blades appeared, each with regularly spaced notches on them.

“Those are single-edged swords made from Ultrahard Steel.”

“They look kind of weak…” While it was clear that Xenophon held the single-edged swords in the highest esteem, the thin blades seemed quite unreliable. They flexed at the slightest application of force and would surely snap in a sword fight.

“Don’t let looks deceive you. Their sharpness is second to none.”

“Will they even work against Titans?”

“Of course! They’re specially made to be used against them,” Xenophon shot back. “They were made in order to cut through Titan flesh. Specifically, they’re weapons made to slice out their weak point, the medulla oblongata.” The blades described a gentle curve and flexed like willow trees for that same reason. “While the drawback is that they break rather easily, the scabbard holds many replacement blades so that shouldn’t pose a problem. And of course, I guarantee their sharpness.”

“I see,” Kuklo said, returning the blades to their scabbards and placing the controllers back into the cases on each side of his body. They looked exactly like holsters.

“That’s all you have to wear. Less bulky than you thought, right?”

Just as Xenophon said, the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment had been kept relatively compact. It seemed to weigh only two or three kilograms. While it would be difficult to move around unrestricted while wearing it, it had not been designed with land-based combat in mind, so its weight was unlikely to be a hindrance.

“All right, everyone. Let us now to the stage where Kuklo will be making his debut!” Ushering them in high style, Xenophon exited the room, a skip in his steps. He seemed uncontrollably happy that someone was about to operate the machine.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” The more gleeful Xenophon grew, the more Kuklo’s sense of unease deepened.

But it was no time to falter. Kuklo and company nodded to one another and left the chief’s office.

***

“That’s─”

As soon as Kuklo saw it, his body stiffened, and a chill came over him like a splash of ice water. A humanoid form over five meters in height towered over him.

Why is one of those monsters here?!

Even as Kuklo reached for the controllers sitting in his holsters, confused, he realized that the figure poised as if to pounce on him was a paper Titan. It seemed to be made of some kind of wood product. He noticed a grain-like texture on its skin when he looked more closely.

“Pretty well made, isn’t it? I thought we’d be able to use it for training purposes,” Xenophon bragged. A terror-inducing level of finish seemed like overdoing it. Still, even though a crude caricature would have done, perhaps a target that closely resembled a Titan was preferable for simulating real combat. Five meters weren’t even enough; Ogre was twice as large as the dummy. That fact drove home what an incredible monster it was.

“All right, now try out the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment,” prompted Xenophon.

“You say that like it’s nothing…” Kuklo pulled the controllers from their holsters and looked up at the dummy. While it had flustered him just moments ago, the imitation was nothing like the real thing now that he observed it calmly. Even then, it was imposing, and Kuklo felt oppressed and outmatched by it merely as it sat there.

“Maneuvering in all three dimensions will be tough, but going in a straight line shouldn’t be beyond you,” Xenophon encouraged matter-of-factly, hardly putting Kuklo at ease.

I can’t kill Ogre without this, though. In order to strike at a Titan’s medulla oblongata, its weakness, he had to overcome the problem of height. Even more so in face of a ten-meter-class Titan.

“By the way, the machine uses gas extracted from Iceburst Stone as fuel. Those cylinders attached to your scabbards send fuel to the main unit.”

Kuklo looked at the scabbards on both sides and noticed cylinders ending in valves.

“This goes without saying, but it stops working if you run out of gas. Be quite careful not to run out─though I guess it won’t be an issue if you never get the hang of it.”

“I’ll try.” Kuklo put his fingers on the controllers’ levers and looked up at the towering Titan.

All right. The second he gathered his resolve and pulled the levers, the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment on his hips let out a bestial howl. Before he had a chance to be surprised, it ejected compressed gas to send two anchors flying like bullets from the devices attached to each side of him. It was almost like an air gun. Like a fang the left anchor bit firmly into the tip of the dummy Titan’s chin, but the right anchor just barely missed its mark.

“You might have hit the target if your right eye was fine. You basically have to eyeball it,” Xenophon quipped. He nodded with a satisfied look on his face, so it must have been a good result for a first attempt.

“I wasn’t aiming for anything in particular…”

“The harness attached to your body works in sync with the firing mechanism.”

“It aims on its own?”

“You just need to look at your target and work the levers on your controllers.”

In other words, the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment would do all the busywork for him. Kuklo returned the anchors to the firing mechanisms and glared once again at the Titan dummy. Though he might not be acquiring his target perfectly without his right eye, he felt he could compensate by making minor adjustments based on where the anchors landed before.

Kuklo stared at the tip of the Titan’s chin and pressed the levers. Both anchors shot out and hit the dummy’s chin, the taut wires attached to them giving him solid feedback.

I’m managing, but that’s all. He wouldn’t have time to modify his aim in a real battle. Using the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment against a Titan would require ever-perfect shots. If an anchor missed its target, he’d either lose his balance and fall to his death, or a Titan would grab and eat him.

As soon as he returned the levers to their original position, the machine began reeling in the wires at a fierce rate. Guided by the anchors, Kuklo soared into the air and headed toward the Titan dummy. The lightning velocity was such that his face distorted from the strain as his body was carried away. A moment’s lapse in concentration and he’d black out for sure.

“Nkk…” Despite letting out a groan, Kuklo gritted his teeth and kept looking ahead. The Titan dummy was already in front of him, and he needed to act right away to avoid a collision. He worked the levers in a panic, but his momentum not letting up, he continued to head straight into the dummy.

Damn it! he cursed and braced himself for impact. An instant later, a shock ran through his body as if a horse had galloped headlong into him.

“Ow…” The force of it seemed capable of pulverizing every bone in his body, but his injuries were not so bad as to render him immobile. Kuklo grimaced and tried moving his limbs and did not notice any problems in particular. His body was surely starting to bruise, but that was all.

I guess you can call that a success… It was, so long as the goal was to travel to a high place.

“You’re pretty good at it!”

Cardina clapped in praise, but Kuklo’s performance was hardly expert, given that he was now swinging in the air five meters above the ground. Unable to pilot the machine, he had simply been jerked up by it. A baby bird did a better job of flying.

But I can kill Titans with this. The issue was getting to their weakness. Getting behind a rampaging Titan and wielding his single-edged swords to carve out its medulla oblongata necessitated making full use of the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment.

Kuklo began to consider the details of defeating a Titan, but high in the air was no place to be tackling the subject. When he tried to loosen the wires to return to the ground, however, heaven and earth abruptly switched places. He started plunging headfirst before this even sank into him.

Oops… As soon as he noticed, he squirmed his body around like a cat. While the landing was not on his head, it was not a soft one, either. Kuklo rolled along the ground.

“Are you all right?!” Sharle asked in a panicked tone.

Kuklo replied with a smile, but the tumble had covered his fresh uniform in dust. He could expect more fresh bruises to form on his body, too.

“If you’d fallen on your head, you’d have been greeted by an angel instead of us. Being sent to heaven by Angel-made gear,” Xenophon deadpanned the grim words, “would be no laughing matter.”

“You’ll lose your balance and flip over unless you maintain your posture using your entire body,” Jorge said. “It’s fundamentally different from fighting on the ground. Hammer that into your mind.”

The problem, though, was that putting the idea into practice promised to be a challenge, as Xenophon elaborated: “Your senses need to adapt to coping with all three dimensions. Humans live on the ground, so we end up thinking about everything from a ground-based perspective. Naturally. But if you’re going to use the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, you have to toss all of those notions out.”

“I think I get it. Or maybe not…”

“Well, it is a revolutionary change I’m asking you to make. Getting the hang of it will require some trigger.”

“Like what?”

“I think the fastest way is to learn with your body. And fortunately, yours seems durable.”

“It’ll break before I ever learn.”

“Well, yes, it would be inconvenient if the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment broke.”

“No, I meant my body.”

Kuklo sighed and looked again at the Titan statue, a fake only five meters in height whose oppressive presence still reminded him of the real deal.

Ogre is twice as big as this thing, too… Not only that, his enemy’s movements were quick, its stamina inexhaustible. Add to that powers of regeneration in a league of their own and you had a truly irrational monster. Standing against one was nothing short of reckless.

But I have to. And to do so he needed to be able to impose his will on the wild stallion that was the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment.

Rising to his feet, Kuklo stared daggers at the Titan dummy and gripped his controllers tight. Without pause, he kicked off of the ground and leapt into the air, then pressed the controller levers.

***

For Kuklo, who’d lived in wretched conditions for so long, the seven days passed in what felt like the blink of an eye. His fatigue, however, vanished thanks to the calm and tranquil days, his body feeling so light he felt like he’d undergone an exorcism.

In their Training Corps uniforms, Kuklo and Cardina waited in front of the factory for the carriage that would take them to the academy for new recruit training. Only Sharle was there to see them off. Jorge had returned to the training academy ahead of them, while Xenophon was not the type for proper goodbyes.

“You know, my plan was to lead a life of debauchery,” Cardina muttered with regret. Apparently the possibility of going back to the training academy hadn’t occurred in his wildest dreams.

“It’s not like you can go home anymore.”

“Right, I wouldn’t want people thinking I’m going to take over the family business…” If Cardina returned to Wall Sheena, he’d be noticed by political enemies. They believed he had died outside the walls, and it was best to let them think so. “I don’t have any cash right now, either.”

He must have decided that at least he wouldn’t go hungry as a recruit. His politician father’s blood ran through him, and he could become a merchant if he exercised his natural gift for speech, but it was nearly impossible to imagine Cardina hard at work. He was the sort who hoped for a life of debauchery after all.

“Trying to get into the Military Police Brigade wouldn’t be bad, though. It was what my father wanted me to do, anyway.”

“For revenge?”

“His enemies did plot his death, and I might clear my family’s name with a proper investigation.” Becoming an MP would allow him to do that, but Cardina’s expression didn’t hint at any resolve, and his tone was flat. The idea didn’t seem to speak to him.

“He wasn’t a hard person to dig up dirt on,” Cardina added as if to explain, “but enough about me.”

With a smile laden with meaning, Cardina nudged Kuklo in the side with his elbow, and Kuklo followed his gaze. There he found Sharle, looking uneasy. It was clear that while in no way happy about his joining the Training Corps, she understood and was trying not to protest.

Sharle had decided to stay at the workshop as Xenophon’s assistant. She couldn’t depend on family, so she had no choice but to acquire some skills. Although life in the male-dominated world of the workshop would be difficult for someone of her refined upbringing, she was confident she’d make it. The reason was simple. Angel Aaltonen, the creator of the Equipment and one of the developers of the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, had had a girl as his assistant, too.

“I guess I won’t meet her again until I graduate.”

“We’ll be entering during the rush of the second half of training, so about three months from now. I’m sure it’ll go by before we know it.”

“That’s assuming I graduate.” Kuklo had no idea what the Training Corps curriculum was like but it couldn’t be a breeze, especially if it involved mastering the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment.

“You’ll be fine. You have both the Survey Corps commander and the instructor’s seal of approval. I believe in you, too.”

“I wonder…” Kuklo cast a dubious look at Cardina.

As the two chatted away, they noticed a carriage approaching them that appeared to be their ride. Its driver was not Jorge, but a different male soldier who must have been assigned to the Training Corps.

“Looks like it’s here,” Cardina said. “To be honest, I don’t feel like doing this.”

“You don’t know when to give up, do you?” Kuklo pushed him into the carriage, which had pulled up next to them, then got in himself.

“Um… Please don’t do anything crazy,” Sharle pleaded, unable to silence her worries.

Kuklo nodded and asked her, “Is there something I should say to Xavi?”

Sharle just shook her head.

Of course not… Sharle’s brother might try to use her if he learned that she was still alive. It seemed best to leave her whereabouts unknown to him.

Judging that they had put an end to their goodbyes, the driver whipped his horse. It reacted by trotting off with a sure gait.

“I guess I’m off.”

“Be safe.”

As Sharle waved and saw them off with a smile, the carriage gradually picked up speed.

***

The military did not rely on conscription, but rather on volunteers. Anyone over the age of twelve with a sound body and mind could apply. There was no set maximum enrollment, but about a thousand individuals volunteered every year, and half dropped out before making it to graduation. While the number seemed small, it was not a problem as their ranks never suffered from extreme drops in size. The Titan invasion fifteen years ago had been a unique case.

There were no recruits anywhere on the grounds, and the place was eerily still.

“They don’t seem to be in the middle of classes, either. Maybe they’re off on a run?”

Kuklo was unable to answer Cardina’s question, but someone who could was waiting for them in front of the school building. The stalwart figure straddling a warhorse was none other than their instructor, Jorge.

“You’re late. Everyone else has already left.” Jorge pointed to the east, but only thick woods were visible in that direction.

“Left?” “To where?!” Kuklo and Cardina got off the carriage and immediately began questioning Jorge.

He tossed two knapsacks off his mount, directly onto the ground, and headed off with a simple: “Just go and you’ll see.”

“Okay. Straight to training, huh…” Cardina shouldered the knapsack, sighed, and began to chase after Jorge.

Kuklo grabbed his own knapsack and prepared to follow him, but it was far heavier than it looked. He thought his shoulder might give.

What is in this? It weighed a shocking amount as though it were full of stones. As Kuklo stood there puzzled, Cardina and Jorge trekked off.

This might be harder than I thought… Though Kuklo felt a tinge of unease, he’d experienced the hellish world outside of the wall and returned, surviving by the skin of his teeth. When he considered that, he realized there was no need to fear any training devised by humans. Slinging his knapsack, Kuklo chased after Cardina and Jorge.

Catching up to the two wasn’t difficult, but matching a horse’s pace was. What was a mere trot for the fleet-footed mount forced Kuklo and Cardina to run to keep up.

“What kind of training is this?” Kuklo asked Cardina.

“Logistics.”

“What’s that?”

“You could call it service support. Assisting soldiers working on the front line.”

The duties would be wide-ranging. While transporting supplies was a given, it also entailed other obviously important tasks such as maintaining weapons and warhorses, constructing and quartering camps, and more. Without soldiers to provide rear support, no force could hold out on the front lines. One day, humanity would push out beyond the walls to retake lands that had been ceded to the Titans. Even Kuklo saw how crucial logistics training was.

“There’s food to eat all over the place. Grass, bugs,” he remarked nonetheless.

“You’re just about the only person who’d be satisfied with that kind of a diet…” Cardina shrugged in resignation.

“Are these full of food supplies?”

“They’re heavy in order to simulate that. They’re full of sand.”

“It’s dead weight?”

“Just pretend that they’re packed full of essences that soldiering requires.”

That passed over Kuklo’s head, but he supposed he simply needed to run to his destination with the knapsack on his back. “Where do I need to go?” he asked.

“Wherever the instructor says to go. Sometimes we march for a full day.”

“That’s ridiculous…”

“I wouldn’t say so,” Jorge interrupted, apparently having overheard their conversation. “I don’t want to say it’s all about willpower, but we’re up against enemies that are beyond the pale. There’s no point in a lukewarm regimen.”

Even if a recruit could overcome the absurdly strenuous training, taking on a Titan was an even wilder challenge. It followed that a soldier unable to endure this much wasn’t qualified to stand against a Titan.

Jorge began to lead the two into a woodland path. It was time for logistics training.

***

Stragglers? wondered Kuklo. The recruits ran dispassionately and showed no signs of fatigue, to judge from behind. Their knapsacks did look heftier than the ones carried by the recruits ahead, but the impression must have been due to differences in build. The lagging runners were about Kuklo’s size if not smaller, putting them on the low end among troops. They didn’t conform to the line of thinking holding sway that soldiers ought to be large and impressively muscled.

But running at the tail end didn’t necessarily make them inferior. Kuklo, who was built like them, didn’t slow down. His breathing was audible and his body hot, but he was not at his physical limits.

I’m not sure if I could do this all day… Yet if he paced himself well, it wasn’t impossible.

Cardina, running beside Kuklo, also seemed to have energy to spare. As a former recruit, he no doubt knew how to ration his strength.

The distance between them and the stragglers continued to shrink.

Ahead of the two, Jorge pointed a finger at the tail end group and said, “They’re receiving special Vertical Maneuvering Equipment training.”

Them? Even though they’re at the very back?! Kuklo tilted his head, unable to understand Jorge’s selection criteria.

“It’s not recognized as part of the official curriculum, so it’s had to take the form of remedial lessons…”

“The other recruits who don’t know call them flunkers,” Cardina said in a rather self-mocking tone.

“As you can see, they lack somewhat in stamina compared to the rest, but they’re far more nimble, and they know how to persevere. In other words, they have the perfect bodies for learning how to master the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment.”

So that’s why… Utilizing it was the major premise for the next generation of soldiers as Jorge imagined them. A large frame or a bulging armor-like musculature would only be a hindrance.

The muscles required were vastly different ones, anyway. Controlling the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment also called for dexterity, in order to properly operate machinery. Furthermore, superhuman balance and spatial recognition were required to move with ease in three dimensions.

So the old ways won’t do. Kuklo had tried to aim for the back of the Titan dummy many times while in the factory city, but all he had to show for it were bruises that covered his body. The only thing he felt more confidence in after his practice was his ability to move vertically.

A revolutionary change… Xenophon had compared it to a revolution, and in fact, one seemed likely to come. Kuklo had no idea when or how, but he felt that training would take him there, whether gradually or in some flash akin to a divine revelation. If a revolution was needed, Kuklo felt he could start one, and he knew what it would feel like.

I’ve experienced one. That revolution had been acquiring language, something that turned his world upside down. Sharle gave me the opportunity then.

He felt he could master the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment once he got the knack of it. This time, the practice equipment might be my opportunity.

Having caught up to the group, Kuklo and Cardina joined the end of the line. The remedial students turned to look with surprised expressions, not expecting anyone to show up from behind them.

What truly shocked them, though, seemed to be Cardina.

And why not… The guy was supposed to have quit the corps, yet here he was in a soldier’s uniform. They couldn’t be blamed for doubting their eyes. After all, Cardina himself hadn’t expected to return to the Training Corps. He wore an expression of embarrassed resignation right there beside Kuklo.

What surprised Kuklo were the faces of the recruits running at the back of the group. He sensed strong willpower in their sharp eyes. While he’d wondered if they were straggling, they’d endured their training thus far and evidently had what it took to become soldiers. Jorge had handpicked them, too, so they had to have some spine.

Are the other recruits the same way? Unlike the ones he was now among, the recruits who ran slightly ahead were burly. That was the current standard for soldiers, indicative of the doctrine that the Titans should be met with brawn.

Even though that’s pointless. For Kuklo, who was familiar with the Titans, large muscles were like fat, worthless.

Jorge’s efforts to introduce the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment derived from his understanding that the Titans could not be defeated as things stood. The man responsible for a Titan falling to the Equipment had to know that truth well. It explained his impatience with the status quo.

Kuklo stared closely at the main group ahead of him.

Xavi is in there, too. He was Kuklo’s natural enemy, so to speak. Unlike when Kuklo was shackled, he wouldn’t let Xavi beat him mercilessly, but he still wanted to avoid dealing with the guy. If Kuklo could choose never to meet him again, he would, but now that he was a recruit, they’d come face to face sooner or later.

He can shoot for MP, huh. Jorge evaluated him highly as a soldier, but Xavi seemed far from praiseworthy in light of the hardship he’d inflicted on Kuklo. Xavi was what he was now only because he’d built his confidence by tormenting a Titan’s son. Giving such a person any credit was unthinkable.

As soon as Kuklo thought of Xavi, he began to wonder what the guy might be like now.

Half a year has passed… It felt like ages since he’d parted ways with Xavi on that stormy night, but it wasn’t long enough for any dramatic transformation. Regardless of outward appearances, it was doubtful that any change had overtaken him.

Kuklo’s right eye began to ache and throb as if in response to his enemy’s presence.

To get rid of these feelings… He increased his pitch, surprising Cardina.

“Where’re you going? We’re in the middle of training!”

“To meet Xavi.”

“Excuse me?’ Cardina’s voice cracked in surprise, but Kuklo continued ahead, paying no heed.

He wasn’t out to clear his years of pent-up resentment. Nor did he mean to so much as call out to the guy. What Kuklo wanted was to see what Xavi looked like now.

My goal is to kill Ogre. Compared to that, his grudge against Xavi was trivial. It did upset him, but he could turn a blind eye. What did trouble him was Xavi possibly standing in his way. Kuklo knew the guy’s personality well, so it was an all-too-plausible scenario. He had to know what Xavi was like now to predict what was to come.

Cardina needn’t worry.

Of course, it would be a different story if Xavi came at him.

***

Cardina hadn’t fared well after his first logistics training session. Unable to get food down his throat, anything he did manage to eat he’d thrown back up. The other recruits had met similar fates, with many even blacking out, and Cardina came to realize that it was a way of screening unfit candidates. Kuklo’s instant adaptation testified to his astounding stamina; he didn’t even seem to be suffering.

Kuklo’s harsh upbringing had indeed granted him exceptional vitality. It wouldn’t have been an exaggeration to call him a beast in human clothes, or a feral child. Not only that, in his veins ran the blood of his father Heath, a Survey Corps team leader. Kuklo was cut out to be a soldier, and he could even come to embody the next generation of soldiers that Jorge sought to turn out.

If there’s one problem… Cardina watched Kuklo pulling farther and farther away. Should I stop him or not?

At this rate, Kuklo might cause a row mere minutes after joining the Training Corps. It would damage his impression.

Unsure of what to do, Cardina looked to Jorge, but the instructor issued no reprimand even though Kuklo’s behavior clearly posed a problem.

“Are you just letting him go?” Cardina asked, unable to hold his tongue.

Maintaining his indifference, Jorge simply stated, “I’ll leave this to you.”

Leave this to me? Being entrusted with the situation limited Cardina’s choices. Actually, there’s only one thing I can do.

As soon as Cardina reached this conclusion, he realized what Jorge’s intentions were. This was rough medicine to make Kuklo conform to life as a recruit.

I do feel like I’ve pulled the short straw here, though. Cardina couldn’t hold back a bitter grin, but his expression soon stiffened as clamors came drifting from the front of the group. He hardly needed to wonder why.

“Sheesh, I should have had Sharle teach me how to handle the kid,” lamented Cardina. He put a hand to his forehead, let out a groan, and dashed forth, prepared for the worst.

***

I know he’ll be up there. From his earliest days as a person, Kuklo had been with Xavi. It was easy to imagine him running at the head, eagerly feeding his conceit.

All right! Kuklo roused himself and continued to plunge forward with forceful steps.

Not expecting to be passed by anyone who’d been trailing them, the recruits clamored as he left them behind, but Kuklo kept running, paying them no mind.

The frontrunner sped about three hundred meters ahead, and it was the exact person Kuklo expected to see. Even from behind, he would never mistake Xavi for anyone else. Kuklo even remembered the sound of Xavi’s feet hitting the ground.

As soon as he recognized Xavi, Kuklo’s days in the shed replayed themselves in his mind. It sent a chill through his heated body, but he only increased his speed as if to shake off the memories.

Xavi’s body had always been imposing, but it was now incomparably larger, thanks either to the training having built his muscles or to a growth spurt. He stood out even among the other recruits, and if one were to judge by his physique alone, he could pass as a competent soldier. Since he ran at the front of the group, he was reasonably able too, as much as Kuklo didn’t wish to concede the point.

Swiftly closing the distance to Xavi, he began running alongside him. This seemed to bother Xavi, who clicked his tongue and glanced at Kuklo with an annoyed look on his face.

“Wha…”

Xavi’s expression turned absolutely befuddled; his eyes couldn’t have opened wider. It must have seemed to him that Kuklo had come back from hell. Though Xavi’s cheeks should have been flush with blood, his face looked almost pale.

“You… Weren’t they supposed to execute you?” He seemed to know about the verdict handed to Kuklo.

Xavi must have been informed of all the details as the victim’s relative, up to and including the execution of the sentence. While the method, banishment, may have been covered up, it made sense for him to believe that Kuklo was dead since the sentence had been carried out. Kuklo felt like taunting him further, but just seeing Xavi so flabbergasted was soothing.

As Kuklo gloated, he heard Cardina’s footsteps come drumming toward him from behind. Maybe he feared Kuklo would get violent, but he bore no such intention. Shocking the hell out of Xavi was plenty satisfying.

Right as Kuklo turned around to assure him, Cardina yelled, “Look out!” At the same time, he sensed a wave of malice.

“Why are you still alive?!” came the enraged scream, along with a powerful, log-like arm.

Angling his head to dodge the approaching right fist, Kuklo snapped a kick into Xavi’s defenseless left flank.

“Guhh…” Xavi stopped in his tracks and groaned, holding his side. The menacing gleam that his eyes still gave off proved that the kick hadn’t done much.

It isn’t like before. Some time had passed since Kuklo last confronted Xavi, and the present standoff was very different. There were no chains restricting his movement, nor was there a precious person he needed to protect. He wasn’t going to stand there taking punches.