"There are people who sacrificed themselves and you are having problems with killing people? Get over yourself!" Leo was still pondering his actions. He was sitting on a bench reading the newspaper. It made him feel even worse, before killing his parents he took what little money they had, the same with Richard. He needed it and with pure hard facts it would have been a waste yet still, he can't help but feel the need to set some money on fire to appease them. It wasn't on the first, second or third page of the newspaper that a house was set on fire inside the internment zone. It was just a footnote at the end of the last page. How interestingly fun though was reading the news.
On the first three pages there were news about the war. Experts suggest the price of rubber, fruits and vegetable will drop. At the end of every battle report there's a long list of benefits that it will bring to the country. Prices dropping in a certain sector, value of labour increasing in another. Around the middle of the newspaper you can finally read about the warrior cadets and their inheritance over the titans.
What Leo was doing wasn't simply wasting his time though. Besides learning more about the world around him, he was spying on the guards inside the military command centre. He positioned himself in such a manner that, through the giant opened gates on the outside of the building he could see inside. Every time someone opens a door inside he takes a look and studies what's behind each door creating a mental map of the place. That was his next target, he would have to make Leo Zuege a soldier closely related with the warriors. First things first though, Richard had to die properly. While spying on the guards Leo also waits for the town hall to open. He had the whole previous night to ponder over it and it was better if he finally changed his name to his real one. Nobody in Liberio or even the whole world would know who he is but there is a chance for people to know who Richard was. If ever someone calls him out by that name and he doesn't answer? It could happen once, it could happen twice but he is about to jump in a veritable cove of vipers. The people he targets are way too intelligent not to notice such slip-ups. He had to make his life easy and change his whole identity to his true self.
After, perhaps a whole hour it was finally the time for Leo to enter the archives and change his name. Entering and being able to perform whatever task he had to deal with however are two completely different things. There was a very long line of people in front as well as behind him but that gave him more and more time to study them.
"Yes, and I would like to deposit the documents for my father as well." A recognizable speaks.
"The murderer again. Pieck Finger. Accomplice in death with Zeke Yeager." She turns around and leave dropping some papers behind. She looked overworked and tired with bags under her eyes. Soon Leo will be part of the military, soon he will make it so they think of him as one of their own. It was better to befriend them. He picks up the papers and calls out to Pieck hiding his murderous intent behind a blank stare. It was a futile exercise as she seemed too busy to realise what just happened. This continuous chain of coincidences was starting to wear Leo out. Seeing every day such dangerous and vile people weighted on him. He then focused on the task ahead and moved forward. At the end of the day he was finally able to call himself by his own name but only at the end of the night will Leo finally be himself fully.
The military centre was guarded with patrols shifting every now and then. He had to be extra careful in infiltrating that place. The best option he had was to climb over a wall, jump inside the courtyard and from there head to a window. If the layout of the building was right then he would be not far away from the archives where he has to place the fake documents for him to enter the military. Leo examines the window before opening it, sneaking inside then closing it behind him. It is unwise to leave an escape route behind as it could be traced towards him while still inside the building.
Leo advances through the building hiding in the shadow created by the light coming through the windows from the lampposts outside. His hands were free but on his wrist he tied a piece of cloth drenched in the same sedative he used beforehand. If a guard were to see him he could try to get close and knock him out. Making his way through the command centre he suddenly jumps to the ground into the darkest of shadows facing the wall. Two men were exiting a room.
"Theo Magath, the man that sends children to kill their kin." Leo recognised his voice immediately as he still has the sound of Magath shouting, ordering his men around while the old garrison commanders from Paradise turned into titans. As soon as they passed by, Leo gets up and darts into the room they just left. It was someone's study with numerous books, a desk, three armchairs and a sofa.
"War plans. Marley will soon invade an island nation north of Hizuru to test out the new warriors. If there's a place where the warriors will be fighting then that's the best place where I'll have the chance to steal one of their powers for my own." Leo puts the documents behind and heads inside the military archives. Instead of giving himself a comfortable job monitoring the warriors he signed himself up as a recruit to fight in the future war alongside the warriors. Once the deed was done and the documents were faked he leaves the archive and heads back home. Two days from then he would leave Liberio and head out to war.
In the morning before departing he waits in line in front of the docks waiting for the call-out. He gets on the boat and disembarks three days later on the small island nation of Goryeo. Marley already had a foothold on that island however the mainland was completely inaccessible. The countryside was transformed into a labyrinth of trenches, mud and wood. Even beyond the city which was conquered there was nothing but shell holes. It was unusually cold and the snow was mixing up with the ash and dust clouding the whole battlefield. As soon as they reach the land Leo, his unit and the warriors were shipped off to the front line.
"Move it, move, it move it!" A soldier was shouting telling the new arrivals to get into the trenches and reinforce the main line.
"Finally reinforcements. We've been under heavy artillery fire for the last week. We keep cutting them down and ten more get back up in their place."
"Have they introduced their civil population into the army?" Magath asks guiding the troops.
"If only their population started speaking mid-eastern. These are volunteers from the south that came to fight us up north. If our army is busy on Goryeo we cannot focus on the growing mid-eastern alliance." The local commander says moving towards a reinforced hill from where to observe the enemy. There were cannons, artillery, machine-guns, razor wire, trenches upon trenches filled with spikes, mud and blood.
"Zeke. It is time for you to show off your golden swing." Magath says commanding the beast titan to launch a series of bombardments on the enemy position. The ground shook and lightning struck the earth. A seventeen metre giant rises covered in fur with long arms ending in claws and sharp teeth.
"And they faced such horror? The scouts willingly charged at it?" Leo says looking for afar at the towering beast. Zeke picks up a handful of explosives and throws them at the enemy line turning it into red mist.
"Braun! Use your Armoured titan and charge the main enemy line. Draw their fire towards you. Leonhart, Galiard. You two use your titans and flank the enemy. Force them to divide their forces. Finger! Use your cart titan and reinforce our own main line. Tell the men to get ready to charge." Bertolt was to follow Magath's retinue, as he was not needed.
"If this is your first time fighting take half as many bullets as you think you'll need. You can always steal a rifle from the enemy but you cannot gain back your stamina while running towards them!" A sergeant shouts as the new arrivals head out. Leo is pushed towards the front lines before the same sergeant signals his unit to stop and wait. From a nearby trench a bunch of unarmed soldiers start running towards the enemy lines. The few that reached them exploded.
"One, two, four! Four of them became honorary Marleyans. Remember to send their families a letter once we discover who they were. Now, charge men, charge!" Leo jumps over the palisade wall into enemy fire. From behind a towering, muscular figure reaches him then goes past. The armoured titan was drawing the enemy fire for the soldiers to get closer. Rainer was being shot and bombarded by heavy artillery fire. To the left the Female titan was targeted and slowed down by artillery, to the right the Jaws titan was being slowly chipped at by machine-guns and high calibre bullets.
"Pieck! Head out and take down those gunners!"
"It is impossible general. If I get out of cover my titan body will be torn to shreds by the high calibre rifles."
"Prepare our own artillery, give cover fire to the titans. I should have personally inspected the battlefield before sending new warriors on the front line. What was I thinking?" Magath says being put in a difficult situation. Zeke couldn't target the enemy's hunkered down position. The armoured titan was being blasted by the concentrated fire of numerous artillery batteries. Just as Annie finally reached the walls a sudden explosion goes out from under her feet. The defenders placed high impact explosives near the base of the walls and Annie just triggered them blowing off her own legs.
"You have one escape plan Leo, you have one life too, don't waste it." Leo rips open a sandbag and dirties it in the mud before crawling out of his hiding spot. He leaves his riffle behind as he could not hide it before heading towards the enemy line. Little by little he crawls through the thick mud nearly sinking at some points. There is razor wire that tears through his uniform above as well as bellow. He is so covered in mud the sandbag on his back was now useless as cover. When the enemy's line of fire would head his way he would hold his breath and put his face straight into the mud, waiting for the gunshots to move in a different direction before moving again. At a certain point there were bullets flying past his head. As he crawls through mud his hand finally finds a piece of wood. He reached an abandoned enemy position which was previously bombarded by Marley. He rolls over the palisade into the trench then next to the wall to make himself harder to see. He needed just one rifle and he could silence those guns. He had the perfect line of fire over them. One dead body nearby was still clutching his weapon.
Leo picks it up, it still had five bullets inside. All he had to do now was to wait for a shell to fall near him and mask the sound of the rifle but no shells were falling near him. He did what he had to do. He picked up a fragment of broken glass from a nearby shattered lamp and started moving it towards the Marleyan lines making himself visible. He barely had enough time to flee his position before two mortar shells fell over. The first one was wasted but for the second one he was in time to aim and shoot the enemy's artillery on Marcel's side. With the high calibre gun silenced the Jaws titan could finally leave his position and attack the enemy base. Once Marcel was free all the pieces fell into place and soon enough all the titan shifters were able to advance towards the enemy position. In no time Marley took control over the battlefield and the enemy lines were pushed kilometres behind.
Appearing covered in mud and wounds the sergeant which lead his unit into battle at the start of the charge cannot help but ask about his appearance. Leo hands him over the mid-eastern rifle with four bullets still inside and tells me.
"That's some good wisdom."