Warrior Candidates

Walking down the street, Yago was in a good mood. Although Mr. Leonhardt's gaze wasn't very kind, he was glad that his goal had been achieved and that Annie would soon be able to reunite with Mr. Leonhardt.

Thinking of how happy Annie might be, Yago couldn't help but smile.

Soon Yago reached a crossroads, unaware that several small figures were running wildly on the other side.

"Udo, Zofia, and Falco, just you wait and see! I'll be the brightest one on the battlefield this time! Haha!" A little brown-haired girl shouted back to her Comrade as she ran, completely unaware of the figure at the crossroads ahead.

Behind the little girl, several of her Comrade were also running. One of the Blonde boys noticed a figure appearing in front of the girl and quickly shouted, "Gabi! Slow down, there's someone in front of you!"

Gabi looked at Falco, but because she was running too fast, she didn't hear him clearly, "Falco, what are you saying... Ouch!"

As Gabi ran headlong into the road, she suddenly bumped into something. The powerful recoil bounced her away, and just as she was about to fall, a hand grabbed her arm firmly, preventing her from falling.

At this moment, Gabi's Comrade also caught up. Falco, panting, glanced at Gabi first, and only after finding that Gabi was alright did he look at the person Gabi had bumped into.

The tall, imposing figure beneath the black trench coat, the unfamiliar handsome face, and the subtle yet palpable sense of oppression emanating from him—most importantly, this young man, who seemed to be about the same age as his older brother Kal't, did not wear an Eldian armband. The only people who would dare to be in the Reberio containment zone without an armband were Marleyans.

Falco quickly apologized on Gabi's behalf, "Big Older Brother, I'm so sorry, my friend was running too fast and bumped into you."

Gabi's other two friends, the black-haired boy Udo and the white-haired girl Zofia, also bowed to Yago in apology.

Yago looked at the yellow Armband on the children's arms and immediately understood their identity, "Warrior Candidate?"

Then, Yago turned his gaze to the face of the little girl who had bumped into him earlier. Suddenly, Gabi's face overlapped with the figure in Big Eren's Memories of the one who had shot Sasha.

"You... killed Sasha?!" Yago's eyes widened instantly. His grip on Gabi's arm tightened abruptly, the force causing Gabi to cry out in pain, "It hurts! Let go! It hurts!"

But a crimson light flashed in Yago's black pupils, and the image of Sasha lying in a pool of blood from Big Eren's Memories was projected into Yago's mind.

That innocent and kind-hearted girl died on the cold deck. Yago couldn't accept this, and a trace of murderous intent emanated from him.

Yago's chilling killing intent terrified several Warrior Candidate. Falco was the first to rush forward, forcefully prying Yago's fingers apart while anxiously shouting, "Big Older Brother, let go! Gabi didn't mean it, please forgive her! I'm so sorry!"

Udo and Zofia each grabbed one of Yago's legs. "We're sorry, it was our fault. We shouldn't have run off like that. Please let go of Gabi!"

Gabi was also terrified. The strange older Older Brother had looked at her with an extremely frightening gaze, as if he wanted to devour her alive. She was still a child. Although she had just received news that all the Warrior Candidate were to go to the front line, she had never seen a battlefield before, nor had she ever seen such a terrifying gaze and murderous intent.

"Gabi! Apologize quickly!" Falco shouted anxiously to Gabi. Gabi was startled, then quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I won't run around like that again, I'm sorry, please, please let go, it hurts..."

At the same time, the crimson in Yago's eyes faded, and he released his grip. The excruciating pain in Gabi's arm eased, and instinctively, she staggered back, putting distance between herself and Yago. Her eyes were already brimming with tears, and she stared at Yago with an unyielding fear on her face.

Seeing that Gabi had been released, her Comrade quickly released Yago as well, and all ran to Gabi's side in fright. The children stared at Yago with equally frightened expressions.

Looking at Gabi's terrified, innocent face, Yago couldn't immediately connect her with the girl with distorted thoughts from Big Eren's Memories.

Admittedly, Yago had murderous intent just now, but did he really want to kill these children here? They seemed to be nothing more than innocent children.

Yago stretched out his hand, looked at it, and chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Is your hand too soft?"

If it were the Gabi from Big Eren's Memories —the one who killed Sasha and shouted arrogantly— Yago would absolutely not hesitate to crush her head. But facing the current Gabi Yago asked himself, and he couldn't do it for the time being.

After thinking for a long time, Yago walked towards the children and quickly stood in front of them. The oppressive feeling he had just experienced frightened the Warrior Candidate so much that they dared not move.

Yago reached out his hand to Gabi immediately closed her eyes, covered her head, and cried out in terror, "No!!"

But the imagined pain didn't happen. Instead, a piece of paper appeared in his palm. When he opened his eyes again, he only saw Yago's departing figure, and there was a banknote in his palm.

Watching Yago leave, Falco was still shaken. He asked Gabi with concern, "Gabi, are you alright?"

Gabi's body was still trembling slightly. "That, that Marleyan, look at me, my eyes are so, so scary, he, he looks like he's going to kill me."

Just then, Colt, wearing Armband, found the children who had been running around wildly. "You guys were running way too fast! Hurry up, or Captain Magath will get angry."

However, Colt noticed that the children's expressions were a bit off, and he asked in surprise, "What's wrong? What happened?"

Suddenly, Gabi raised her head and asked in a tearful voice, "Brother Colt, even if we become Marley Warrior Candidate, will the Marleyan still look down on us? Is it only by becoming Honorary Marleyan that the Marleyan will stop discriminating against us?"

Colt was stunned. He hadn't expected Gabi to ask that question, but he didn't know what had happened either. He just mumbled, "Uh, becoming Honorary Marleyan means a good life, right..."

Hearing Colt's words, Gabi lowered her head. Normally, Gabi would have firmly believed this: becoming Honorary Marleyan would mean a better life; the Marleyan would no longer discriminate against her, but rather worship her, no longer seeing her as a descendant of demons. But now...

In the end, Colt still took the children to the Warrior Unit' assembly point, but Gabi had lost her initial excitement.

Yago walked down the street with his head down, thinking of Gabi from Big Eren's Memories, who had yelled "Devil!" at the Survey Corps. "If you really are like that, I will personally crush you!"

(Let me share Muzi feelings. I had mixed feelings while writing this chapter. Muzi Gabi in the original work was indeed detestable; I could kill her off a thousand times over. But the Gabi here is just a Warrior Candidate; she hasn't fully developed that kind of morbid, brainwashed worldview yet. It's a bit of a stretch for me to really kill her Muzi. I can only ask you all to see how the plot develops and what you would do if you were Yago.)