"Someone?!"
Yago's sharp shout startled Serena as well. The instant she heard there was someone, she drew the pistol from her waist like lightning.
Yago, meanwhile, fixed his gaze on the dark corner not far away.
"No need to hide. Since you're exposed, come out and show yourself."
As he spoke, he slowly approached. His muscles gradually tensed, and inside his clenched fist, his sharp nails slowly pierced into the flesh of his palm.
Serena cautiously raised her pistol and followed Yago forward.
As the two drew closer and closer,
a figure stepped out of the shadows with both hands raised.
When they saw the face, both Yago and Serena froze.
"It's you?"
With gray hair hanging loose, the Sea-Diving Titan Airi forced a stiff smile onto her face as she looked at the two of them.
"Uh, Commander Loya, Captain Serena, hello."
What answered her was the sound of Serena cocking her pistol and Yago's wary gaze.
"Why were you following us? Did Marley send you to monitor us? Or did you discover our identities long ago!?"
Serena demanded loudly.
Airi couldn't hold it in anymore. The stiff smile vanished from her face, replaced by an extremely aggrieved expression.
"I… can I say I don't know anything? I just happened to come here. Would you believe me?"
Serena snapped back without hesitation.
"Do you take us for children? This place is several kilometers from the camp. Who would run all the way here for no reason? Even we drove here in a military vehicle. And you just happened to come here? What, you came here to sleep?"
Airi bit her lip.
"Have you ever considered the possibility… that there was still someone lying in the military truck you drove? You just didn't check carefully."
Serena retorted immediately,
"What nonsense are you talking about? You think we would—"
She didn't finish her sentence before Yago poked her arm, cutting her off.
She turned her head and saw that Yago looked slightly embarrassed. He lowered his voice and said,
"Well… we might possibly, maybe, perhaps really not have checked the back compartment."
On the other side, Airi felt like her luck couldn't be worse.
She had originally just found a covered military truck to slack off and take a nap. In her dream, she even felt it bumping and jolting—almost like getting a massage. When she woke up, she happened to be hungry too.
Unexpectedly, when Airi lifted the truck curtain to prepare for a nice dinner, she suddenly discovered that everything around her had changed.
The orderly military camp had turned into a desolate grassland. The flat grounds had become a deep valley.
Airi almost thought she had been abandoned and thrown away. She wandered in the valley for most of the day, and then very unfortunately ran into Yago and Serena's "conspiracy."
Hearing their secret discussion, Airi's face turned pale with fright, and her body couldn't stop trembling.
If heaven gave her another chance, she would never slack off again.
No matter how much she tried to restrain herself, Yago and Serena's plan still entered her ears word for word.
Eldian Revival Army. Rebellion. Paradis Island. Eldians. Marleyan Volunteers.
Each term made Airi shudder. If possible, she truly didn't want to have "accidentally" heard any of this. Being a Marley warrior was exhausting enough as it was.
But there was no helping it. Once you've heard something, you've heard it. Once something happens, it has happened. Whether you're willing or not, you have to face it.
Clearly, Airi, Yago, and Serena all understood this principle.
So Serena's pistol remained aimed at the center of Airi's forehead, and the wound in Yago's palm continued to emit faint steam without healing.
Yago smiled slightly.
"Airi, stop playing dumb. You heard everything, didn't you?"
Airi lifted her head helplessly. Her light brown eyes met Yago's dark ones.
She let out a soft sigh and nodded.
Serena's expression darkened. The finger resting on the trigger tightened slightly.
But Airi suddenly spoke, her tone very gentle.
"Captain Serena, there's no need to be so tense. And you should know… bullets can't kill a Marley warrior."
After saying that, Airi looked seriously at Yago.
"Commander Loya, although I truly didn't want to hear any of this, I hope you understand my identity as well. For the sake of my family, I can't just ignore it."
Yago remained calm.
"What do you mean? Airi, you're an Eldian too. Since you know about our Eldian Revival Army's plan, then even better—why not join us? Fight against Marley's oppression and battle for the revival of the Eldian people?"
Airi closed her eyes. Her beautiful face twisted slightly.
She reached up and scratched hard at her gray hair, messing it into a tangled heap, then suddenly shouted in frustration,
"Ah! This is so annoying!"
She seemed to collapse on the spot.
"I just want my family to live a little better! I never wanted to be some Marley warrior! I don't even know anything about some Eldian Revival Army! So why does all of this have to fall on me? It's so annoying!"
After a while, Airi calmed down and sighed. She spoke to Yago and Serena with deep apology.
"I'm really sorry. I'm not that great. And my family is still in the Liberio Internment Zone. I don't have a choice. I'm truly sorry."
Yago understood the meaning behind her words. Serena clearly did as well.
Without any hesitation, Serena was about to pull the trigger—but Yago reached out and stopped her.
"Serena, step back for now. Airi is right about one thing. Bullets can't kill a prepared Titan warrior. Let me handle this."
Serena looked at them worriedly, but in the end, she obeyed and stepped back.
Airi watched as Yago calmly removed his coat, then tossed it back in a rather cool motion.
Behind him, Serena very cooperatively… failed to catch it.
But without changing her expression, she swiftly bent down, picked it up, dusted off the coat as if nothing had happened.
Airi's face twitched slightly.
"Commander Loya, I don't understand. Aren't you a Marleyan? Why are you helping the Eldians?"
Yago tilted his head, then suddenly burst forward toward Airi.
"Why do you care so much? Did I ever say I was Marleyan? Let me see what a Marley warrior is worth."
Facing the aggressive Yago, Airi immediately panicked.
Although she had received some combat training after becoming a Marley warrior, she had never actually fought in real combat. And her Sea-Diving Titan didn't require much fighting skill either.
So when Airi raised her fist to counterattack, in Yago's eyes, she was full of openings from head to toe.
There were so many openings that Yago didn't even know where to strike first.
So he simply lifted his foot lightly.
Airi's expression changed instantly. She lost her balance and fell hard to the ground—commonly known as "face-planting."
Yago hadn't even attacked. He had merely extended his leg slightly and tripped her.
"Puh, puh!"
Spitting out the dirt in her mouth, Airi grew a little angry and clenched her fists before charging again.
Then—
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
…
Serena frowned as she watched Yago practically toy with Airi, making her fall more than a dozen times in a row.
Even she felt that Yago was simply bullying a novice with superior combat skill.
Thud!
Falling again, Airi's eyes turned red.
"Are you serious? Is this all a Marley warrior amounts to? That weak?!"
The mocking voice from behind drove her even more insane.
Airi suddenly slammed her fist hard into the ground and roared,
"You forced me to do this!"
Her voice even carried a trace of sobbing.
Strands of golden lightning suddenly erupted from Airi's body.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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