"You might be strong, but you're too slow!"
As the Survey Corps and Garrison Corps scrambled to the scene, **Ryo Akira** had already made his move. This was his first real fight using the 3D Maneuver Gear, and although unfamiliar at first, his instincts quickly adapted to the challenge.
Fortunately, this was a typical Titan, not one of the intelligent ones like the Female Titan. Against an opponent like Annie, Ryo knew he'd have been crushed in an instant. Intelligent Titans were faster, more agile, and could outmaneuver even the most experienced soldiers with terrifying precision.
"You're just a mindless brute," Ryo muttered, circling the Titan with his gear. His keen eyes analyzed its movements, noting its slow turns, wide but clumsy strikes, and tendency to lose focus.
"This isn't going to be that hard," he concluded, gripping his blades tightly.
Meanwhile, Mikasa arrived on the scene, ready to save Ymir. But before she could act, she noticed something strange—the Titan's movements were chaotic, as if something was distracting it.
"What's going on?" Mikasa muttered, her sharp gaze locking onto a lone figure darting around the Titan's massive form. It was Ryo, blood streaked across his uniform, steam rising from his gear as he maneuvered.
"Is he insane?!" she thought, her heart pounding. "How can he attack without knowing the Titan's weakness?"
The cadets were still in training and hadn't been taught the Titans' vulnerabilities yet. The back of the neck—their critical weakness—was knowledge reserved for advanced training. Without that information, any attempt to fight a Titan seemed suicidal.
But Ryo wasn't acting out of ignorance. He had seen enough to understand. His first attack came swiftly, aiming for the back of the Titan's neck. However, the Titan twisted at the last moment, and his blade only grazed its massive body.
"Damn it!" Ryo cursed, retreating quickly to a safe distance. His hands trembled slightly—not from fear, but frustration. Titan blood, steaming and foul-smelling, splattered his gear and gloves, its stench nearly making him gag.
The Titan turned its attention to Ryo briefly, but then grabbed another nearby cadet, lifting them into its maw. The sickening crunch of bones echoed as the helpless student let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Ryo's eyes burned with fury. The Titan wasn't just a monster—it was a cruel, gluttonous predator. It had dismissed him, treating his attack as nothing more than a nuisance.
"You're not ignoring me again," Ryo growled, his grip tightening on his blades.
This time, he chose a riskier approach. He fired his anchor directly into the Titan's body, using it as a platform to launch himself upward. The maneuver was dangerous—unlike attaching to a stable surface, anchoring to the Titan meant he had to contend with its unpredictable movements.
But Ryo wasn't about to back down.
"Go to hell!" he roared, his body flying toward the Titan's head.
The Titan reached out to swat him away, but Ryo twisted mid-air, slicing through its massive fingers with surgical precision. Blood sprayed as the severed digits fell, and Ryo shot his second anchor into the Titan's neck.
The tension in his gear's cables pulled taut as he swung around, his movements smooth and calculated. The Titan barely had time to react before Ryo was already behind it.
With a surge of gas from his gear, Ryo closed the distance in an instant. His blades gleamed as he brought them down with all his strength, cutting deep into the nape of the Titan's neck.
Blood erupted like a geyser as the Titan let out a final, guttural roar. Its massive body swayed before collapsing to the ground, sending tremors through the earth.
Ryo landed lightly a short distance away, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. Steam rose from the Titan's lifeless body, mingling with the crimson mist that filled the air.
Mikasa stared in stunned silence. The cadets had been paralyzed by fear, yet this newcomer had singlehandedly taken down a Titan.
"Who... is he?" she wondered, her heart pounding in her chest.
Ryo wiped the sweat from his brow, glancing back at the fallen Titan with grim satisfaction. His blades dripped with its blood, but his resolve burned brighter than ever.
"This is just the beginning," he muttered, steeling himself for the battles yet to come.