The Titan Slayer

Chapter 8

Time flew for Marcus during the time in training. He didn't think he could have so much fun undergoing constant physical punishment. After all, joining the Training Corps wasn't his decision. However, his friends proved him wrong.

Kellan was just about the best best friend Marcus could have. He was the most charismatic person Marcus had ever met. Complete with a great sense of integrity, compassion, intelligence, and humor. Let's not forget about the looks, too. Yet, what made Marcus love Kellan so much was that Kellan didn't act superior about it. Kellan may have been (sometimes overly) confident, but he wasn't arrogant. He helped people and asked for help, even if it harmed his ego.

And then there was Oluo. Marcus thought that guy was hilarious. Oluo tried to act strong and careless, but he had the best sense of humor Marcus had ever encountered.

The girls were also an intriguing squad. Diane portrayed herself as aloof and stoic most of the time. But when she found something funny, boy, did she laugh. Petra could be aggressive at times, but everyone loved her. She was cheerful and quick-witted. Nailea was just a sweet, sparkling fairy. Period. Anais was pure skill and serene bliss, but her knack for mocking people was extraordinary. The fact that she always did it with her pretty smile only made things sting more. Occasionally, Rico hung out with them, but she had her circle of friends.

Marcus smiled to himself as he darted through the massive trees around him. Yes, training was hard, but his friends made it bearable and worth it.

When they first got it, Anais had explained the mechanism of the ODM gear. She struck the truth when she suspected the ODM gear required more muscle than the simulations provided. She once complained that she resented how the grapples only shot from her hips in a straight line. Marcus agreed. Having to twist his waist in mid-air to aim and control direction had caused him to have sore obliques for weeks.

And no matter how exhilarating the gear was to use, the impact of moving at such speed was sufficient to cause death. Sure enough, the first time one of the cadets did, Marcus remembered how shocked and distressed everyone had been to the lifeless body lying on the ground. Although warned, none of the cadets could get past the fact that someone died in training.

Marcus directed his attention to progressing to the center of the woods. From what he'd deduced, that was where they placed most of the wooden Titans. Their goals were to slice six napes before the lunch bell.

Marcus had thought the training was hard before using the real deal, but now he was convinced nothing was more arduous than getting used to the ODM gear. It wasn't that he couldn't move in it well. Quite the opposite, Marcus would claim himself pretty good. However, Shadis wasn't exaggerating when he warned them how vigorous the special preparation training would be.

Because at first, not everyone could properly manipulate the gear. Some cadets failed at flexibility and agility. They couldn't manage the complex acrobatics required, unable to spin and alter their direction in the air. Most of these people quit. Then there were ones like Nailea. It wasn't until the following day that they found out she was afraid of heights. To make things worse, Shadis even yelled at her that she should leave if she couldn't use the gear. Anais had ended up spending the next days overcoming the fear with Nailea. Eventually, Anais got Nailea accustomed to the angst and succeeded in teaching her.

Now, Nailea flew with innate competence. If anything, Marcus was willing to say that Nailea enjoyed using the ODM gear.

Marcus trained his path towards the heart, flying farther into the forest. He scanned his surroundings for the fake Titans, looking for the tall wood cut-outs with an additional hunk of "flesh" for the neck. From what Marcus observed, instructors mostly set them toward the middle of the woods. They clustered most of the Titans while keeping others sparsely located throughout the forest.