A few deals

As soon as they left the refugee gathering area, Erwin tossed a set of Omni-Directional Mobility Gear in front of him.

"We're heading up to the wall. Put this on. Since you insist on bringing your sister, work out how to carry her yourself."

With that, he stood to the side and waited, his gaze fixed on Bai Yu. Looking at the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear in his hands, Bai Yu couldn't help grumbling inwardly.

This guy...

He patted Xiate's head to reassure her, then began putting on the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear without delay. Looking at Erwin, he suddenly spoke.

"Captain Erwin, could you do me a favor?"

Erwin raised his eyebrows slightly. He hadn't expected that, but he had no intention of stopping him from asking.

"What favor?"

Bai Yu turned to look at the refugee gathering area behind them and spoke plainly.

"Don't let them be sent to fight in the Retake War for Wall Maria."

Erwin looked somewhat surprised.

"That hasn't even been decided yet. How did you know about it?"

"Looking at the situation inside Wall Rose, it's not hard to guess, is it?"

As Erwin studied the boy before him, he became even more certain of his abilities. He absolutely could not treat him as a child.

Bai Yu put on the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear with practiced ease. His adjustments looked like movements he had repeated thousands of times, and he tapped it casually, as though checking for faults.

He's no ordinary boy...

Bai Yu tested the tension of the blade grips, then smiled at Erwin.

"Well?"

Seeing the boy's utterly unruffled smile and composure, Erwin nodded slightly, though he still had a condition.

"If you pass, I'll guarantee they won't be selected."

"Thank you."

Behind him, Xiate pressed her lips together tightly, her grip gradually tightening. Bai Yu crouched down in front of her.

"Come on, little Xi. Climb on and hold tight. Whatever you do, don't let go, or we're both done for."

Of course, he was only saying that. Xiate was considerably lighter than Yishi, after all.

He casually twirled the blade grips in his hands.

"Let's go."

Erwin merely glanced at him before the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear at his waist fired its grappling hooks. He shot into the air toward the nearby wall.

Watching their fluid movements with the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear, Bai Yu told Xiate to hold on tighter. Gas gushed out behind him, leaving a white trail through the air that gradually dissipated.

The two men beside Erwin looked back at Bai Yu, who kept pace with them despite carrying someone on his back. His movements were steady and utterly effortless. They exchanged startled glances.

Erwin, meanwhile, was thinking.

Just as I suspected?

After a final fifty-meter burst beneath the wall, they landed directly on top of it. Erwin extended a hand toward him, his eyes fixed on the boy before him.

"I want you to join our Survey Corps."

Those words were exactly what Bai Yu had expected.

But Xiate, who had just climbed down from Bai Yu's back, widened her eyes slightly and hurriedly looked at him.

"You said you didn't want to join the Survey Corps."

Erwin ignored Xiate's attempt to stop Bai Yu from joining the Survey Corps. He simply watched him, quietly waiting for his answer.

Bai Yu knew that Erwin had put him in check.

Though, as far as Bai Yu was concerned, one regiment was much the same as another.

"Then what about my sister..."

Erwin looked at her and was about to speak calmly, but before he could finish, Bai Yu murmured softly, his voice suddenly stripped of emotion.

"If anything happens to her, I'll slaughter every last human above the rank of commoner."

Bai Yu looked rather calm at that moment, but a faint red glow shone in his eyes. Their silvery sheen conveyed a silent warning.

It told Erwin, I'm just like you. For some things, I'll stop at nothing.

In an instant, a sudden plunge of terror swept through the surroundings, and icy killing intent enveloped Erwin and his two companions. Yet for some reason, Xiate felt utterly safe. She couldn't help gently hugging Bai Yu from behind.

Suddenly, Erwin smiled as though conceding. Looking at Bai Yu, he understood him clearly now-or rather, Bai Yu had deliberately let him see exactly who he was.

"As long as you join the Survey Corps, not one of your companions will be sent on the Wall Maria Retake Plan. As for your sister, rest assured. We can bring her to our Survey Corps headquarters, but..."

At that point, Erwin suddenly drew a blade from its sheath and pointed toward three distant Titans: one fifteen meters tall, one ten meters tall, and another roughly seven meters tall.

"Three minutes. Kill them by yourself, and all those promises take effect. We'll also overlook the theft of the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear."

Bai Yu slowly closed his eyes, a somewhat helpless smile tugging at his lips. With his left hand, he took an earbud from inside his clothes and slowly slipped it into his ear. As gentle music filled his ear, he walked along the wall toward the three Titans, bumping his fist against Erwin as he passed.

"Deal."

As he walked, he locked the grips onto the blades and drew them from their sheaths.

With a metallic ring, the long blades slid free, and Bai Yu slowly opened his eyes. He leaped off the wall, twin blades in hand, the gas jets behind him blasting at full power.

A figure plunged from the sky. With a swift slash, blood spurted from the back of the fifteen-meter Titan's neck, and a chunk of its nape was sliced away.

Rather than pulling the silvery blade free, he drove it into the Titan's body and carved downward. Using the drag to slow himself, he changed course midway, redirecting the gas jets behind him and tracing a magnificent arc.

A cold gleam flashed along a straight line, slicing the napes from both the seven-meter Titan and the ten-meter Titan several meters away in a single stroke.

Everyone on the wall stared blankly. As they realized what had happened, their eyes gradually filled with shock.

The whole thing had taken ten seconds. Using his fall from the wall and the gas propulsion, without even firing his grappling hooks, he had cut down three Titans in one uninterrupted rush. This...

The absolute pinnacle of maneuvering with Omni-Directional Mobility Gear.

The same thought filled all three men's minds. How was this possible...

But Bai Yu had already fired his grappling hooks into the wall and was flying back up. On the way, he hurled his two chipped blades one after the other, precisely killing a distant five-meter Titan.

With a hiss of escaping gas, Bai Yu returned to the top of the wall and hooked the grips onto his sheaths. He spoke as he brushed the Titan blood off his clothes in distaste.

"All done."