The two didn't make a fuss for long before Mikasa separated them. It could be seen that Eren was much calmer than he was three years ago, having grown to some extent. Jean, on the other hand, was still his usual carefree self, wholeheartedly thinking of going to the Military Police to enjoy a comfortable life.
Actually, this was normal. Ninety percent of the people present had the same idea as him. Their reason for working hard was the hope of entering the Military Police; otherwise, they would rather farm than join the Survey Corps. After all, they could all see the miserable state of the Survey Corps every time they returned from outside the walls. Who would want to become a cold corpse lying on a cart?
"What a hot-blooded idiot," Ymir said, watching the angry Eren. "The Survey Corps really suits him. Just that passion alone could probably take down a few titans." She then asked Rayan, "Hey, shorty, you still haven't answered my question from earlier. You definitely won't rank in the top ten, so between the Garrison Regiment and the Survey Corps, which one do you choose?"
"Guess."
"..."
Ymir's expression turned unfriendly, while Krista quickly interjected a few random words to prevent the two from arguing again.
Time passed bit by bit, and graduation was just around the corner.
Training grounds.
Today was another day for hand-to-hand combat training. Because graduation was approaching, everyone's enthusiasm had waned even more. Since this training didn't contribute to the score anyway, everyone was very perfunctory. Instructor Keith also had something to deal with and wasn't around. Without supervision, everyone was basically sitting on the ground chatting.
"Hey, do you think your grades will get you into the top ten?"
"I don't know... it feels very uncertain."
"Yeah, after all, those few are definitely going to make it. You can tell their scores are high at a glance."
"I've already identified four or five who are guaranteed... Anyway, it's very difficult. I hope I can get in, otherwise, once I'm in the Garrison Regiment, who knows how many years I'll have to wait before I can apply for a transfer to the Military Police."
"Yeah, after all..."
The two trainees were discussing when they suddenly felt a gust of cold wind. They turned their heads and saw Annie walking past them. Her eyes were cold, and the two couldn't help but shiver after just one glance.
"Annie is too scary..."
"Hey, is she going again?"
"Probably."
The two watched her back as she walked silently straight toward the corner of the training ground where Rayan was sunbathing.
"Hey."
She looked down at Rayan's face, his soft lines and features, and the black eyes that were slowly opening.
"Training."
"Huh...?"
Rayan looked at her with some distress. "Annie, let's skip today. It's rare for the instructor to be away. Isn't it nice to bask in the sun for a while?"
"Training."
"..."
Rayan regretted it immensely. Ever since he defeated Annie in hand-to-hand combat in the training grounds three years ago, the latter had been coming to him for training every time. Even after Rayan deliberately let her throw him to the ground once later, she still wasn't satisfied. In her own words, it was:
"..."
There were no actual words. Rayan didn't know what she was thinking, but she was incredibly persistent.
"I said... don't you dislike this kind of training? Shouldn't you think it's meaningless? Then why are you so enthusiastic about it now?"
"I want to win."
"You've already won. Many times."
Annie looked at him coldly without speaking.
Rayan thought she probably saw through the fact that he was holding back, but what could he do? As time passed, he had completely mastered his one-third titan power, even to the point of controlling it at will. He could release and withdraw his strength at will and could control even the slightest amount of force.
In this situation, for a human to defeat him in a one-on-one fight—sparring was impossible; only killing techniques would work. If Rayan's heart was pierced or his head cut off, he would naturally die. But if it was just sparring, he wouldn't be afraid of anyone.
Moreover, so far, no one truly understood his full strength. The most he had ever used was only one-tenth of his power. If he threw a full-force punch—blowing up a head would be no different from blowing up a watermelon.
Of course, he definitely couldn't achieve the kind of destruction a titan could. After all, his surface area was only so large, just a pair of fists. But a titan's fist could smash a house in one blow, completely incomparable.
At this moment, Rayan stood up. He didn't adopt a fighting stance but just looked at Annie and asked, "Annie, you're going to the Military Police, right?"
"..."
"In that case, you should know that this kind of hand-to-hand combat training is meaningless, right? Since it doesn't count towards the overall score anyway, why waste time that could be spent sunbathing?" Rayan said, turning to walk away, but Annie stopped him.
"I told you, I want to win."
After she said that, she didn't give Rayan a chance to speak, suddenly raising her foot and kicking out. The latter stepped back to avoid it, frowning slightly.
"Many people have tried to hit on you before. You should understand how annoying that can be," Rayan said. "But now you're also part of my annoyance. Or are you just using training as an excuse to spend more time with me..."
"Hmph!"
Annie threw another punch, her face darkening a bit.
Rayan could see that she wouldn't give up until he dealt with her properly, so he directly reached out, his palm meeting her fist.
"Thump!"
Upon contact, Rayan immediately closed his fingers, grabbing Annie's fist. Her brow furrowed, and she exerted force to pull it out, but it felt as if her strength was sinking into the sea, to no avail.
She also knew that Rayan's strength was immense, so in that split second, she immediately gave up trying to pull her hand away. Instead, her body suddenly dropped, and she swept her leg towards Rayan's ankle.
Rayan didn't move. Then a muffled groan was heard—it was Annie. Her leg had kicked Rayan's ankle as if it had hit an iron plate, the sudden pain even causing her to lose her fighting ability.
"So, as I thought, assassins with insufficient attack power really can't cut through tanky warriors..." Rayan muttered softly, then reached down with his other hand, grabbed Annie's calf, and exerted force upwards and downwards simultaneously, directly flipping her onto the ground. Then he bent down, using his leg to press down on her thighs, while his hands pressed down on her arms, looking down at her and asking, "Satisfied?"
"..."
Annie's pair of cold blue eyes seemed to be spitting fire, and her body struggled violently, but Rayan's limbs were like iron blocks, pressing down on her so that she couldn't move at all.
"Hey, hey, shorty, what are you doing? This is broad daylight. If you want to do something like that, you should wait until it's dark and no one's around, right?"
Ymir's teasing voice rang out. Rayan looked up and realized that he and Annie were surrounded by onlookers—many male trainees, perhaps usually bullied by Annie, were now secretly giving him thumbs-up, sending approving glances.
What's going on...
Rayan belatedly realized that his posture was indeed not very good, almost like a villain in a drama about to assault a defenseless woman. He hurriedly released his grip, stood up, and then reached out and grabbed Annie's arm, pulling her up from the ground in one motion.
"Slap!"
Annie slapped his hand away, a hint of unwillingness and an unreadable emotion flashing in her eyes, then turned and silently walked away.
Rayan sighed.
With no more excitement to watch, the crowd dispersed. Ymir and Krista walked over, the latter looking at Rayan with concern. "Are you hurt?"
"Huh? Krista, does he look hurt to you?" Ymir narrowed her eyes. "I think he clearly enjoyed it. How was it? The feeling of pinning the 'Ice Beauty' Annie down must have been pretty good, right?"
"Ymir..."
Rayan looked at her, pursing his lips. "What? Are you jealous? Do you want me to pin you down too?"
"You can try," Ymir said with a smile. "But in my case, that slap just now wouldn't have landed on your hand, but on a certain cute little face."
Rayan was too lazy to bother with her. He glanced at the figure that had already walked far away, thinking that after this, she probably wouldn't come again. That's right, graduation was just around the corner, and there wouldn't be another chance.
"Tsk, still reluctant to let go, huh?"
Ymir looked at Rayan's gaze and said seriously, "But speaking of which, you two actually look quite compatible."
"Huh?" Krista, who was beside them, looked puzzled. "Why, Ymir?"
"Think about it, you're both shorties."
"Rayan isn't short anymore," Krista reached out and compared Rayan's height. "He's already taller than me."
"Hahahaha!" Ymir put an arm around her. "Krista, you're so cute"
"Huh?"
Before Krista could react, Rayan sighed again. That's right, he was indeed taller than her now. But the problem was, she hadn't grown much at all. She was still only about 1.5 meters tall, almost twenty centimeters shorter than Rayan.
"Yeah, already taller than you."
Rayan reached out and ruffled her beautiful, soft blonde hair, only to have his hand slapped away by Ymir the next second. "Get your dog paws off her!"
"If mine are dog paws, then yours are octopus tentacles."
"Octopus?" Krista asked curiously. "What's that?"
Crap!
Rayan's heart skipped a beat. The humans on the island had no knowledge of marine life at all. Forget octopuses, they didn't even know the most common carp.
But... Krista didn't know, but Ymir, who came from Marley...
Rayan subconsciously glanced at her. Sure enough, Ymir was slightly frowning, and the look in her eyes was somewhat strange.
"That... is a creature I saw in a book," Rayan could only say, biting the bullet. "It's said to have many legs, and when it catches an enemy, it wraps them up or something. I've never seen one. It's probably something a bored person made up."
"Oh, oh..."
"Saw it in a book?" Ymir looked at him and said, "Can you lend me that book? I'm very curious too."
"I read it when I was a kid. I don't know where I threw it away long ago."
"That's a real pity."
"Yeah."
------------
Try Other Fics I Have
•SAO: I replaced him?
•Anime: I Want Harem
•DxD: I am Kanda Sorata
•Anime: Curse Of Immortality
•Genshin Impact: I have Broken System