Bai Yu looked at Mikasa. Of everyone here, only she was somewhat stronger than the others.
But Bai Yu had lost count of how many times he had been beaten up in these one-against-many fights over the years. At first, he had used models of himself, fighting two copies at once. And yes, he had gotten beaten up.
Then he had trained hard and finally defeated those two copies, which hadn't improved. After that, he had to face three copies of his post-training self. And yes, he had gotten beaten up again.
That time, it had taken him over a year to beat them. Then he had to face four copies of himself after another round of training, armed ones at that. Bai Yu still couldn't beat them. Good grief, they were vicious, stabbing straight for his heart.
Bai Yu had died so many times that he no longer wanted to look in the mirror.
Now, let's bring the camera back to the present. With the considerable gap in their physical abilities, a sweep or flick from Bai Yu was enough to send someone crashing to the ground. Some passed out immediately, while others pretended to be unconscious, hoping to attack him from below. Instead, he kicked them straight off the ground, caught them with one hand, and hurled them into the others.
Fortunately, Bai Yu still knew how to pull his punches. He couldn't very well leave them disabled and forced to retire at his hands, or no one would dare join the Survey Corps.
It looked as though they were being slammed hard into the ground, but he gave each of them a slight lift before impact, leaving just enough force to knock them out.
When he saw Eren in front of him, he simply tossed him a short distance away. Call it his mischievous streak; he wanted to save Eren for later.
But the moment Mikasa saw Eren sent flying, she rushed over to him and asked whether he was all right.
Armin hadn't wanted to fight Bai Yu in the first place. He just stood there, unable to advance or retreat. Watching Bai Yu take everyone down with a single move made him even less willing to step forward.
Before long, a pile of "corpses" lay around Bai Yu. Some were still awake, but they didn't want another beating, so they simply stayed down.
Now, only Armin, Eren, Mikasa, and Yishi, who was merely watching him quietly, remained before Bai Yu.
"Aren't you coming at me?"
Seeing Bai Yu's smile, Armin shuddered and waved his hands to indicate that he wasn't.
Bai Yu turned his gaze to Eren.
Eren climbed off the ground. His body still hurt a little, but he ignored it, wiped the dust from the corner of his mouth, and looked at Bai Yu.
Perhaps because they knew each other so well, Eren knew that Bai Yu was strong and that he was no match for him. Even so, he wanted to give it a try, because Bai Yu could make him stronger.
Well... that counted as a kind of stubbornness, perhaps.
The next moment, Eren charged at Bai Yu.
Bai Yu calmly dodged a punch.
"With such big movements, how do you expect to hit anyone?"
Then he stepped in close, driving into Eren's chest. A moment later, Eren felt the entire world spin around him, only to settle again immediately afterward.
But Eren hadn't caught up yet and stood there in a daze.
Everyone around them had seen it clearly, though. In Bai Yu's hands, Eren had spun in a complete circle and more or less returned to his original position, as though he were a toy.
Mikasa merely watched Eren with some concern. She, too, knew that Bai Yu would pull his punches.
Bai Yu patted the dust off Eren's clothes.
"All right, stay still."
With that, he turned around.
"Mikasa, want to try?"
Mikasa pursed her lips, but she stood up. That made Bai Yu rather happy; he had thought she would refuse.
Bai Yu attacked right away, with no intention of waiting for her to make the first move.
He thrust out a palm, only for Mikasa to block it with both hands.
He was a little surprised, but considering her Ackerman blood, it made sense. Bai Yu slipped straight through a gap and swept her guard aside. One hand reached past the scarf around her neck and grabbed the front of her clothes.
Mikasa tried to knock his hand away, but then she felt herself leave the ground.
He hurled Mikasa toward Eren.
"Eren, catch her!"
"Ah! Bai Yu, what are you doing?!"
"Call me Instructor Bai Yu, thank you."
Meanwhile, a cadet named Jean watching from the sidelines felt his heart all but shatter.
Ignoring the two as they tumbled into a heap, Bai Yu looked at the last person remaining.
This time, however, he didn't call her Senior Sister Yishi.
"Cadet Yishi, want to try?"
Looking at Bai Yu before her, Yishi moved her lips as though she wanted to say something, but couldn't get it out. There seemed to be a faint plea in her eyes as she looked at him, but Bai Yu didn't know what she was pleading for.
The next moment, Yishi attacked anyway.
As expected, he took her down in one move. This time, however, he was gentler; simply knocking her down was enough.
With that finished, Bai Yu clapped his hands.
"All right, everyone get up. We're done."
Some of those pretending to be unconscious climbed to their feet, while the few who had genuinely passed out were carried to the side.
"Fall in!"
"Yes, Instructor Bai Yu!"
Sure enough, teaching this stuff required beating them up first before they would listen.
"Some of you still haven't recovered today, so we'll keep it simple. Everyone, hold a horse stance for the whole morning!"
The cadets weren't sure what that stance was, but once Bai Yu demonstrated it, they understood. It didn't seem all that difficult.
But when they turned their heads, they saw that Ming had somehow dragged over a huge pile of bricks.
"Instructor Bai Yu, wh-what are those for?"
"Less talking. Get into your stances."
"Yes!"
The bricks were simply tossed to one side. He had no intention of making them use the bricks from the start. They were all just beginning to learn, and Bai Yu didn't want them damaging their bodies by holding the stance.
The cadets were fine at first, but as time passed, they began to feel that something was wrong. Their expressions turned strange, and soon their bodies started trembling slightly.
Bai Yu kept moving through the formation, correcting people's faulty postures. Holding the wrong posture could do considerable harm to the body.
Although their previous training had involved plenty of running and using the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear, the latter gave them a feeling of floating through the sky. Hand-to-hand combat, however, required a stable lower body, and they found themselves struggling to adjust.
After half an hour, Armin, who was the least physically fit, dropped onto the ground with a thud, both legs trembling uncontrollably.
Bai Yu merely glanced at him, then spoke after a few breaths.
"Keep going."
"Yes!"
Armin shakily rose from the ground and resumed his horse stance, gritting his teeth as sweat ran down his forehead.
Of everyone there, Annie held the steadiest stance.
Bai Yu watched Yishi, who was trembling nonstop.
In truth, Yishi wasn't much fitter than Armin, but she was still holding on.
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