Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of the baton echoed throughout the corridor, continuously stretching from one place to another, accompanied by figures constantly collapsing unconscious.
These Garrison soldiers fundamentally lacked armor to withstand Asahi's baton. In fact, right from the stage of troop organization and deployment, there were countless loopholes.
It made sense. The world inside the Walls prioritized anti-Titan defense as its core military program. Conversely, counter-combat training and troop deployment revolved around Titans, not people. Not to mention, most of the Garrison soldiers had been uselessly sedentary within Wall Sina for too long, having completely forgotten how to apply even the most basic standard of counter-combat techniques.
"No, no... no! Spare me!"
The only soldier remaining was teary-eyed and snot-nosed, having slumped onto the floor, a slight odor of urine rising from his soaked pants. He looked at Asahi, who was approaching with a ferocious look, and at his comrades sprawled around him, screaming and endlessly begging for mercy.
Asahi didn't know what to say. He clearly hadn't killed anyone, yet the man was acting as if he was about to send them all to hell. The poor morale was irritating.
It should be noted that, besides bribery or recommended connections, one must achieve a rank of tenth or higher in military school training to join and become a Garrison soldier. Falling within the top ten out of hundreds could be considered an elite soldier.
Yet, upon entering here, what did the whirlpool of power, money, and extravagance turn an elite soldier into?
Asahi sighed in exasperation, then sternly interrogated the remaining man.
"How many more of you are coming here?"
"I... I don't know! We were the earliest group to arrive..."
"Then go to sleep."
Thwack!
A swift strike to the head with the baton, and the soldier collapsed without resistance.
He turned around, slowly listening to the movements around him. At the moment of breaking through his limits once again, his body underwent an enormous qualitative change.
It was unlike the first time he broke through the human limit, where the transformation primarily involved the physical strength being maximized and then skyrocketing. This change also included an extreme enhancement in body control. Continuing to develop, Asahi thought he could control every muscle fiber and moving blood vessel in his body, unleashing 100% of his power!
And even now, coupled with his terrifyingly potent will-power, he could "extend" his consciousness, creating an effect similar to a radar for detecting movement.
Because of this, he quickly discovered at least three other squads heading his way, each comprising around eighty to one hundred men, all equipped with guns, but absolutely none using the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear (ODM Gear).
"Tsk, just because your opponents are humans, you're this lax?"
Asahi shook his head, disheartened. Fighting Garrison soldiers was less enjoyable than fighting the mindless Titans.
Well, he didn't come here to enjoy the feeling of combat, and even the coup wasn't the main objective. All of this was happening to confront the upcoming danger, far beyond the Titans, way out there.
So, the fewer obstacles, the better.
Besides, this bunch was just the appetizer.
Asahi no longer worried about whether the opponents were weak or not, moving quickly to intercept the enemy and resolve the situation in the most efficient manner possible.
He dashed forward, creating afterimages, like a predator lurking in the bushes, quickly closing in on its prey with such unbelievable speed that they didn't even have time to scream. When the first figures of the troop collapsed, the Garrison soldiers still didn't know what they were facing. They were horrified, raising their guns, but their entire vision was enveloped by darkness.
Stealthy, unseen, terrifying, horrifying, a nightmare. These were the most accurate words to describe his state at the moment. He could bet that many of the soldiers who participated in trying to stop him today would carry an indelible psychological trauma, perhaps even developing PTSD.
"Ugh... ugh!"
The Commander of the Military Police Brigade looked at the huge dark figure lifting his neck in front of him. He tried to resist by raising his hands, but the arm holding him felt like a pair of pliers clamping him down. His resistance was literally no different from a grasshopper trying to kick a cart.
"What kind of... monster are you..."
The Military Police Commander stared straight into the cold, blue light emanating from the mask's eyes, managing only a fragmented sentence before his mind was crushed by the darkness.
Thud!
He was released. Asahi, having finished, turned to look at the messy pile behind him. The Military Police were weak, but since there were so many of them, it took a bit of time.
"But it's convenient that you're here."
He muttered. At the same time, three nearby glass windows suddenly shattered. Three figures equipped with ODM Gear burst in. The ODM Gear of these three was not connected to sword handles like that of regular soldiers but was connected to handheld stocks, similar to the guard squad at the Reiss house.
Asahi knew this group would show up eventually. Through his first interrogation, he learned that the government tightly controlled knowledge, creativity, and inventions. Discoveries that went beyond the era would be burned, and their creators secretly killed. However, the encounter with the Reiss family told him another truth: the government inside the Walls did not truly eliminate all inventions; they preserved them and turned them into their own secret weapons.
At the Reiss house, the true royal family already had a branch of bodyguards equipped like this. Why wouldn't the nobles also have their own branch, or even a specialized corps?
This group couldn't kill Titans as efficiently as the Survey Corps because they were trained and equipped to kill people.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three gunshots rang out. Asahi's figure vanished from where he stood, leaping high up to the surprise of the three soldiers. A baton strike thrust straight into one man's chest.
Phok!
The man who was hit spat out a mouthful of saliva, feeling the air in his lungs violently compressed and expelled by the force from the baton's tip. He instantly fainted from lack of oxygen. The two remaining men could only grit their teeth and continue firing, but he was so fast that he exceeded the ability of ordinary people to perceive movement. The bullets fired could only embed themselves in the floor and walls, unable to even graze his coat.
Both realized they had made the wrong decision. By the time they tried to use their ODM Gear to escape, it was too late. Asahi's form had closed in, two batons were swung out, and two figures collapsed to the ground, their guns unable to fire one last round.
He put away his batons, removed the ODM Gear from one of the men, and attached it to himself. Done with that, he no longer stayed inside the building but calmly walked outside.
There, many more Garrison soldiers had appeared. However, they only dared to descend onto the surrounding rooftops and not the ground. The three soldiers who led the way were the consequence.
"Well, let the game continue."
Like a villain, Asahi said in a deep voice. At the same time, he activated the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear.