Ch 7 – Zero to Hero

In an open field of grass with titans roaming about, a particular titan with a body rippled with muscles and short black hair was running at a rapid pace in a certain direction, a weird thing to be seen from a mindless titan such as that so it must be an abnormal titan of some sorts.

'The pain of my body burning is a bit of an annoyance while in combat but my pain tolerance is slowly adapting to it. Even if I was punctured in the heart, I would still be able to calmly think without panicking.' He thought, continuing his rapid rush to the sea where the dock was located and driving the boat he saved to reach Marley.

'I would first go to Marley and make a fake identity, tricking them into believing I was a soldier who got amnesia is farfetched but I have a way to forge an identity for myself. Either I join the Eldians in Marley and rise through the ranks as a soldier or act as a beggar and trick a high-ranking soldier to join me into the military when they see my potential.' He thought, deciding on the second option due to more info capable of being gathered once he reaches a high enough rank such as a commander.

As he continues to run for a few straight minutes, he finally reaches the sandy shores of the dock and with a flicker, his titan body suddenly disappears into nothingness while he was left there high in the air, shooting two hooks from his waist to latch on to the wall, he was fling forwards to the open sea while his hooks retract back to his waist.

Then with gas erupting from his waist when he was about to land down on the dock grounds, he halts his fall and looks at the open sea with a cold gaze.

'Just in front of me, I would be able to reach Marley soon and start my grand plan of eating all 9 titan shifters for myself, in due time.' He thought, a malicious grin cracking on his face as a boat appears right on the open water beside him, making the seawater splash all around the area coating him in salty seawater.

With a hop, he climbs on top of the boat, enters the operating room, and starts his sail to Marley.

(A Few Weeks Later)

In the flourishing streets of Marley, kids run about with wide smiles while adults and parents talk to each other while holding paper bags filled with an abundance of foods and fruits.

Marley, a country that rose in glory after conquering the empire of Eldia and became the most powerful nation in the whole world.

But this country wasn't always sunshine and flowers, due to the resentment of Marleyans toward their previous masters called Eldians, a divide was soon made between the Marleyan residents and Eldian residents.

Not only that but there were also a ton of homeless people that received this fate through the constant wars that Marley goes through to continue their domination, conquering more nations to put under their command.

And right now, a Marleyan soldier was walking around while scratching his head in annoyance.

'Why do we have to go to fight again?! Argh, can't we soldiers get some rest?! Tsk, if only those "warriors" didn't get sent to the Island Devils, then those Eldians could have just done their duty and fought the other nations for us.' The man complained, resentment clearly coating his voice for the Eldians.

'The country of Malcopo, one of the countries that hold some valuable resources for Marley and is just across the south sea. A trip that would take a day to reach, sigh. The battle has been raging on already for a few days, those black people really are fearsome living in that hellhole of a continent.' He thought, walking to a stall to buy some bread when he suddenly glances at the dark alley where a person with long black hair covered in dirt, wearing ragged clothes filled with holes was crouching.

'Hmm?' he thought, intrigued by who this homeless guy was.

Deciding to become a good guy for an unfortunate Marleyan, he nears the dark alley, casting a shadow on the small amount of light that pierces the dark alley making the homeless guy catch his attention.

"Hey, you okay right there," the soldier asks, crouching down on the ground while taking out a loaf of bread from his brown paper bag and nearing it to the man whose eyes glowed from the presence of food.

"Y-yes… I-is that for me?" the man asked, saliva dripping from his dry mouth already.

"Of course, I just wanted to talk to you for a few seconds," the soldier said while giving the loaf of bread to the man who hurriedly took it and wolf it down, but from the split second that his body moves, the soldier saw the ridiculous muscles packed on the homeless guy's body which made his eyes bulge.

'W-what?! Did I see that right?!' he thought to himself, shocked at the muscles the homeless guy holds.

'A-and are those scars?! And those eyes… they have gone through war!' he thought, shocked at who this man is.

"H-hey," he said, making the homeless guy stop eating as he glances at him with a weirdly cold gaze that made a chill crawl up his spine.

"W-were you a soldier before?" the soldier asked.

"Me?" the homeless guy asked, pointing at himself in confusion.

"Yes you, were you a soldier?" the soldier asked once more.

"Well… I don't know, I lost my memories a few months ago while bleeding and now I just live by here, living on the scraps that kind people like you give me, so thank you for the food!" the homeless guy said, bowing his head down to the ground as the soldier got flustered.

"Y-you don't need to thank me! I was just wondering why you seem to be a soldier… say," the soldier said, hinting that he was going to ask a question to the homeless guy.

"Hmm? What is it?" the homeless guy said.

"What about this, I can recommend you to join the military and you can get a living quarter if you join the military while in training, and after that, you can start earning money and get a life for yourself," the soldier said with a serious gaze.

"Y-you're not joking?!" the homeless guy said, shocked at his sudden proposal.

"I'm serious, and I'm also doing this for myself. I could see some potential in you, if you prove your worth to the higher-ups, I might get a raise and could retire early. So… you up for the task?" the soldier said, stretching his hand out to the homeless guy.

"Y-yes! I promise I won't let you down!" the homeless guy, clasping the soldier's hand in a tight grip that made his eyes bulge.

"Ow ow ow! How are you so strong!" the soldier said, shaking his hand off from the homeless guy's clutches while the homeless guy got flustered in response.

"S-sorry, b-but, do you have more bread I can eat?" the homeless guy said with an embarrassed smile.

"Hehe, here you go," the soldier said, giving another loaf of bread to the homeless guy as a new bright future was given to this "homeless guy".

(A Few Months Later)

On a raging battlefield set under the blazing sun, two groups were seen as the main fighting force.

One was the Marleyan army wearing their uniform consisting of a brown bowl cup-shaped helmet, a white suit having long sleeves, a pair of white pants, and dark brown boots as most of them hide behind blockage to defend themselves from the oncoming bullets of the enemy army in front of them.

The opposing army was from the army of Malcopo and they are now currently in the country's last line of defense, and this part is the most protected with the natural hot terrain being to their advantage with the Marleyan and Eldian soldiers being unaccustomed to the heat.

"Tsk! Their barrage never ends! The other sides are hopeless to pierce their barriers and we're the only one who can pierce through it!" shouts one soldier as they prop their rifles to their chests, feeling their thumping hearts from the blazing battlefield of war and blood.

"I'll go!" suddenly shouted one soldier from the side as they glanced at him in shock.

"Freidrich?!" the group said in shock at his proposal.

"Let me do it, I'm almost dead right now anyways. Bleeding legs, shot thighs, and cramped arms. Let me do it! We've been with each other for months now and you guys treated me like family when I first joined! You guys were like my tutors! If anything, I wish to repay this debt with what I can do," Freidrich said, looking at them with a gritted smile while grabbing a series of bombs by his side.

"Tch! Don't go acting like a hero in front of us right now! I made you join the army! Then at least I don't want to be the reason why you die! Let me do it!" shouts the soldier who helped Freidrich when he was still the homeless guy.

"Sigh, stop acting like a protagonist you two! We're a team and we know that! So let's go out with a fucking bang!" shouts the one in the middle as they smirk, finally strengthening their will, they went to grab a series of bombs to throw as their final sacrifice.

Taking a quick glance at the series of walls in front of them, they have to destroy the last one to destroy the machine guns prop on top of them and they're the one closest to that fucking last wall.

"In 3! We go guns blazing and bring a fucking end to this damn war! Either we die as failures or as heroes!" shouts the one in the middle as they tightened their grips on their bombs.

"3!" shouts the man as they get into a crouching position.

"2!" the count continues, with them nearing the edge of their pouches of sand that act as their defenses, they prepared themselves to run into enemy fire and throw the bombs.

"GO!" shouts the man, and with the fear of death gone, they got out of their barricades and run towards the wall with multiple soldiers firing at them.

Soon, one of them fall but not without throwing his bomb to the front, blowing up a majority of the soldiers while they continued their rush.

One by one, their team died but with each death, they managed to wilt out the soldiers in front of them with Freidrich and the soldier who helped Freidrich being the only ones left.

As their hearts set ablaze at the final frontier, the machine guns on top of the walls pointed at them, with wide eyes, Freidrich watch his last friend push him away from the gunfire with his body being riddled with holes from the bullets that pierce his body whole.

As his eyes become bloodshot, he hastily grabs the bombs in his friend's grasp and rolls away from the gunfire, and taking a last deep breath, he opens his eyes wide and rolls back into enemy lines and with a big arc, his right arm swings the bombs forward while multiple bullets went to shoot towards him.

And as a loud explosion erupts from the last north wall, all the soldiers from east, west, and south changed their direction to the weak point of their defense along with multiple bullets piercing Freidrich's chest, knocking him down to the ground as a pool of blood fills the ground below him.

Glancing at his first buddy and last friend to die with, he coughs up blood and closes his eyes, ready to ascend to the afterlife… if he was a normal man!

But this is Freidrich Braun! A man who vows himself to reach the pinnacle of the multiverse! And all of this… the months of planning he has done has finally paid off when he was hastily escorted out to safety with his bleeding wounds leaving a trail of blood behind them.

And soon, a promotion was in store for him with his show of heroism and bravery, and he will finally reach the rank of commander and have more influence and power than ever before.

AN: This is 2094 words, you're welcome.

Will do a QnA later once we reach Vol2, so be ready with your questions, will probably do a weekly QnA session down the line to clear up some confusion due to how confusing the later volumes would be, probably, or maybe I'll be too lazy to do that.

Writing is hard, so give me powerstones.

(May 18, 2022 – 195th day of writing)