Demon--
Scum--
Maggot--
why don't you just die?!
Why come here and pollute our world?! Get out! Get out!!
...
...
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"..."
The scene was filled with chaotic light and shadow, including rocks and clubs. To dodge them, or rather, to make them disappear from her field of vision, the girl instinctively opened her eyes--
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"Good morning, Miss Aurora."
A researcher in a white lab coat was standing a few steps in front of her. After noticing her movements, he greeted her and continued to copy data from the dashboard.
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Aurora... Who is that? Is he... talking to me?
Like an old computer that has been restarted, memories slowly returned to the girl's mind. At least she remembered her situation: she was the only subject of a secret military experiment, and yesterday she successfully completed the experiment and was approved by the Emperor's marshal sent to the capital.
After exhausting all her physical and mental strength, she slept until now...
The girl lowered her head slightly and saw herself soaking in orange liquid, completely naked. She wanted to make fun of something, her mouth twitched, but in the end, she didn't lift it. As a female body, she was presented in a completely transparent cultivation tank, 24 hours a day, 360 degrees on display to everyone, and she didn't even have the idea of curling up her body--indeed, it was already very perfect.
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"Good morning, Dr. Petersen."
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"You have fully recovered."
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"I feel the same way, Doctor."
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"Your performance yesterday was outstanding, even exceeding the expectations of Marshal Königsberg. He, who had previously scoffed at our research, even came to the institute to inquire about the progress of our project and promised to allocate more funds."
As Petersen spoke, the girl only blinked once and then remained motionless and unresponsive for a long time. It wasn't until Petersen took what he needed that he remembered his omission and smiled at the girl:
"So, as a member of the institute, your monthly salary will be raised to 36 Empire Marks, and the figures less than this amount in the past two years will be fully reimbursed--this is personally arranged by the Marshal."
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Finally, the girl's face had a luster, and she slowly raised her left hand to salute the air:
"Hail Marley."
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"Hail Marley!"
The researcher in the white coat put away his smile and gave a solemn salute.
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Warren. One of the special administrative regions on the border of the Marley Empire.
Many years ago, this was a grassland, an activity area for some nomadic tribes within the Marley Empire. Due to overgrazing leading to desertification, the vast majority of residents had moved away in the past few decades. Except for yellow sand and desert on tens of thousands of square kilometers of land, there was almost nothing, making it an ideal place for experiments that were not allowed in other places.
The practical training ground of the Marley Empire's army's brigade-level special operation team, the "Warrior Unit," was set up here.
"Ahem... Hail Marley!"
"Come in, Gick."
The middle-aged man sitting in front of the desk with one hand on the report document and the other pinching his chin in contemplation is the commander-in-chief of the Eldian troops (including the "Warrior Unit" and other regular Eldian troops) of the Marleyan Army, Lieutenant General Dior Magath.
Although the Warrior Unit is only a brigade-level formation, it is only built around six Titans, and there are not many soldiers and other service personnel under its jurisdiction. As a training ground, it also has little communication with the outside world. Therefore, even though this office is a place for high-ranking officials like generals, the area is only 20 square meters, which can be called narrow. From this, we can also see that the general with neatly trimmed hair and beard is not a useless person who seeks pleasure.
"Yesterday, did you go to Leba and see that humanoid secret weapon?"
Named Gick, with messy hair and beard, looking surprisingly old, he hesitated for a moment. The white light reflected on his glasses blocked Dior's path of scrutinizing him. After pushing his glasses, he stared at the floor and replied without much spirit:
"Yes, sir. I was ordered to control the Pure Titan to attack her."
"Did she really kill fifteen Titans in a row after her limbs were severed and she fell from a height of twenty meters?"
"Three limbs, sir. She used blades to kill the Titans."
"Weren't they tampering with the Titans--or maybe, you?"
"I can't disobey the Marshal's orders, sir."
Gick took off his small round glasses and wiped the lens with force as if he wanted to crush it, even though it was not dirty at all.
"Moreover, if I had any personal feelings, I shouldn't have given any cover to her, who is unqualified. She will drag Lena and the others down."
"Sit down."
After pointing to the chair next to him with his face, Magath ignored Gick and picked up the report to read it word by word. When he came to the crucial part, he stopped, and his eyes no longer moved. After a long time, he folded the report and put it in the drawer:
"They really are extinct. I can almost imagine how they trained a little girl under ten years old in two years, making her able to stay calm while falling freely from a high place after losing her limbs and being surrounded by a group of monsters who want to eat her."
"This is the atonement of our Eldian people."
Gick immediately responded.
"Atonement, hmph."
After putting away the documents, the unrest in Magath's heart prevented him from sitting calmly. He stood up from his seat and walked to the French window, staring fixedly at the endless yellow sand in the distance. Then he fell silent again, pretending to be aloof.
As a senior officer of the Marley Empire, who invaded foreign countries and oppressed the domestic population, he had instructed, or at least tacitly approved, actions that sent Eldians to their deaths. However, reading the experimental details of the torture inflicted on a nine-year-old girl made him feel physically nauseous. He had dealt with adult male soldiers a lot, and they were livestock that could die anywhere, in any way. But children and women...
"Commander..."
Gick cautiously probed, getting Diuo's tacit permission to continue speaking.
"But I did feel something unusual about those Titans. When they were biting her, her body seemed to be weakened as if all her strength had been used up, and they didn't seem to be able to hurt her at all. And when she crawled out of their mouths, they didn't put up any decent resistance and were easily sliced open at the back of their necks— is that her ability?"
"Yes, that's her ability."
Diuo glanced at the clock on the wall and said, "She'll be coming here no later than the day after tomorrow. She'll become a member of the warrior team. You should also know her abilities."
Upon hearing this, Gick opened the office door, looked around to make sure no one was there, and then closed the door behind him as he returned to his room.
"Her ability is to weaken targets—just that. And there is also a limitation that it cannot be used properly when there is severe emotional turbulence."
Gick raised his eyebrows but remained silent. If this were the world of heroic martial arts where men were still fighting hand-to-hand, weakening enemies would be a pretty good skill. But in the contemporary environment where most casualties occurred beyond the visual range of the naked eye, caused by firearms, this skill seemed...
Almost useless.
"You invested five million marks in this project just to get this result?"
After lighting a cigarette and taking a deep breath, Diuo hid his contempt for the military's upper echelons from his competent subordinate.
"Compared to the ability she gained from the five million marks spent on her power infusion, her innate talent to repair her body like a giant, coupled with the physical and combat training she received for ten marks and meal subsidies per month, is more meaningful to a soldier, right?"
"But Commander, as far as I know, the enemies on Paradis Island..."
"But—we're dealing with enemies on Paradis Island who are still in the era of cold weapons."
Diuo changed his attitude, very determined, and even affirmed her with a smile.
Finally, Gick relaxed his expression and felt fortunate for meeting a girl from the same race only once. If her abilities were not satisfactory to the military upper echelon, the cost of five million imperial marks would be enough to give the responsible person any possible reason to exile her and her entire family to "paradise" to vent their anger.
The Marley Empire was expanding its territory by force worldwide, relying solely on the power of the seven titans like a miracle blessed by the gods.
"The weapons with constantly improving output capabilities are slowly but steadily catching up to the power of the Titans, which has made the Marley Empire, which has long relied on the power of the Titans and is far behind other major countries in war technology, anxious. In order to maintain military supremacy over other countries, the Marley Empire needs more powerful Titan power: the power of the "Founding Titan" that can take on multiple nations by itself.
As early as five years ago, the Marley military had already begun to formulate a plan to capture the power of the Founding Titan located on Paradis Island. Even if it was a disposable item, investing 10 million marks to make it was completely worthwhile if it was beneficial to the plan. 10 million marks are far from enough to build a naval flagship, and even a naval flagship is far from enough to help Marley defeat its archenemy, the Empire of the Rising Sun, at sea - but the Founding Titan can.
"Assistance that can counter the power of the Founding Titan. It only costs 5 million marks to obtain it. It's not an exaggeration to say it's a miracle. They are not only very satisfied but also ecstatic with joy and celebrating."
"Excuse me, Commander. Did you say that she can counter the Founding Titan?"
"Didn't you see it with your own eyes? Even if multiple Titans attacked her at the same time, she still handled it with ease. And the Armored Titan also admitted that 'weakness' is equally effective against him."
"But, the power of the Founding Titan is..."
"Her last name is Ackerman."
"I see."
The cultural course of the Warrior Unit mentioned that although the Ackerman tribe and ordinary Eldians are both "Subjects of Ymir," the tribe with the Ackerman surname is special.
They seem to be able to use the power of the Titans in humanoid form, with movement abilities completely beyond the realm of humans. And most importantly: they can influence the power of the "Founding Titan" of all "Subjects of Ymir," and will also make concessions to the Ackerman tribe.
In Marley's initial plan, they planned to send their own "Colossal Titan," "Armored Titan," "Female Titan," and "Jaw Titan" to Paradis Island, find the "Founding Titan," defeat him, and then bring him back to Marley.
This plan is simple, and the flaws are obvious - theoretically speaking, the "Founding Titan" can control all "Subjects of Ymir," including the "Pure Titans" and the "Intelligent Titans." Although the "Founding Titan" had sworn not to be an enemy of the outside world and seemed unable to resist the Marley Titans who wanted to eat him... that was only apparent.
Do oaths have binding force? At least not for humans. Even if they do, whether resisting Titans from outside the island counts as being an enemy of the outside world is also ambiguous. It is completely possible for the Founding Titan to become angry and order all outside Titans to kneel down and reflect on themselves for 13 years until their lives end. Now, there is a giant girl who is not interfered with by the "Founding Titan" itself, and one of her abilities can weaken the "Founding Titan's" interference with other Titans?
The price of 5 million imperial marks is really too cheap for the double insurance bought by the plan.
"Ring!"
The phone on Dio's desk rang. A call at this time almost certainly had something to do with the secret weapon girl. Dio was not in a good mood and was still smoking. He tilted his chin and gestured for Geke to answer.
"Hello? This is the Warren base... Understood! Immediate support!!"
"Commander! An enemy spy has infiltrated the transportation convoy and kidnapped her. It happened about an hour after the convoy departed from the Port of Ehrmich."