Kuklo and the others applied themselves to their training even harder than before, especially in light of the decision to unveil the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment at the contest. They couldn’t let such a golden opportunity to push the training up to an official subject get away.
Yet, their skills hadn’t improved decisively. Facing a Titan still seemed like a pipe dream, and beating a hasty retreat was all that the device seemed good for.
At the same time, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t honed their techniques at all. It was just that the thing took a while to master. Titans had to wait until after graduation, but showing off what the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment could do at the contest was well within their reach.
To begin with, perhaps they shouldn’t be rushing to graduate. Middling technique did them no good, and heading to the battlefield as they were spelled death. Waiting until they were adept seemed acceptable to them. While repeating a year would be unusual, an academy first in fact, it was nothing to be ashamed of. If anything, it was the right decision, and Jorge, their instructor, agreed. They’d surely be granted a second year of training as a special measure if they could show off the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment’s capabilities at the inspection matches.
Their curricular training done for the day, Kuklo and the others equipped their machines and walked to the usual woods off the athletic grounds. What wasn’t usual was the presence of other recruits who’d come to watch.
“How distracting…” grumbled Rosa.
“There’s a few more every day. Looks like we’re popular.” Cardina chuckled and glanced at the recruits observing them from a distance. Following his gaze, Kuklo counted about thirty absorbed spectators following their every movement, perhaps hoping to steal some techniques.
While Cardina and the others seemed to find the gallery distracting, Kuklo, used to being watched, felt nothing. They aimed no hostility or hatred toward him, so he considered them as harmless as the vegetation around him. Thinking about them was a waste of time and energy.
He pulled his controllers from the holsters and looked at the sea of trees ahead of him. Full of thriving cedars, pines, and cypress trees over twenty meters tall, the setting drew out the full potential of the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment. The Titans needed to be lured onto similar terrain if they were to be felled. While there were only a few such places outside the walls, the oases featured a decent density of trees.
Okay! Kuklo fired himself up and stared at a thirty-meter-class cypress that soared before him. He set his sights ten meters up it and used his controller’s lever to fire an anchor. He missed his target slightly, but the anchor dug itself into the tree more or less where he wanted. I guess that’s fine.
Accuracy was somewhat of an issue for Kuklo, who was missing his right eye. But that was nothing new. He could make minor adjustments on the fly, so there was no need to disassemble the gear to make mechanical adjustments.
Kuklo returned the controller lever to its original position and leapt into the air. The wire quickly reeled back in, sending his body flying with ease. Cardina, Rosa, and the others all sank anchors into other trees and began to move. Repeated practice had rewarded them with both bruised bodies and newfound skill, and their movements were as smooth as silk.
The audience oohed. Their reaction testified to the impressive possibilities hidden in the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment.
Kuklo and company weaved through the trees at a relaxed pace as if they were jogging.
“How self-serving, though.” Cardina seemed bewildered by the other recruits’ change in attitude.
“I have a feeling they’ll have another change of heart if we don’t do well at the contest,” Rosa offered her cool, realistic take. “But thanks to them, rumors about the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment will spread. We need to show them everything it can do.” She began increasing her speed.
Cardina followed after her, bantering, “Honestly, I think we already stand out.”
Though they only expressed anxiety and discontent, they were proud of the daily growth in popularity the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment was enjoying. Kuklo, on the other hand, couldn’t care less what others thought.
All I care about is killing Ogre. The Vertical Maneuvering Equipment was attracting attention on his way to that goal, nothing more.
Likewise, he needed to perform well at the inspection matches in order to defeat the Titan. He hadn’t been moved by Jorge’s passion, nor was he concerned about the future of humanity. What drove him was utterly personal. He wanted to sever his ties to the Titans. But whatever it was that motivated Kuklo, no one would object if he put up some results. He was certainly putting in the required effort.
It happened when he was fine-tuning the placement of his anchors even as he proceeded among the trees. A shot from his right firing mechanism strayed far from its target and missed.
“Wha?!” Kuklo opened his eye wide in surprise. It seemed like a mechanical malfunction. Having lost its mark, the anchor descended in a parabolic arc.
He clicked his tongue and quickly tried to reel the wire back in, but the right controller linked to it didn’t respond. He pressed the lever again and again, to no avail.
Oh no… Kuklo’s wires were his mode of transportation as well as his lifeline. When they failed, he was essentially throwing himself off of a tree. What now? What do I do?!
His left wire having been reeled in, Kuklo’s body was flying forward from the momentum. Normally, his right anchor would grab its target and stabilize his body, but now…
Kuklo quickly looked around him but spotted no branches that might save him. His body began to decelerate and lose balance. He found himself overtaken by a strange, floating sensation.
I’m going to fall… Just as Kuklo thought this, his body began hurtling toward the earth.
Ten meters to the ground. He could see a verdant rug below him, but it seemed unlikely to catch his body gently. His scattered blood would turn the flowers into crimson mementos.
“Kuklo!” Cardina and Rosa yelled almost simultaneously.
“Damn it!” Kuklo spat, gripping his left controller. Dying thanks to a tool meant to kill Titans was no way to go. No thanks!
He had options left, too. While his right controller wasn’t functioning, thankfully his left one still did. While he could no longer maneuver in three dimensions, he could still move up and down. In other words, he just had to imagine that he was using the old Equipment.
The only problem was his sense of direction, which had been scrambled thanks to his rapid descent. His inner ears seemed not to be working, and he couldn’t even tell which way was up.
He’d crash into the ground unless he did something, but just then, his eye caught a nearby tree.
Here! Kuklo immediately used the lever on his controller. An anchor shot from the firing mechanism and went straight into its target.
Far from a miracle arising from exceptional instincts, it was a conditioned reflex, the sort of feat that became possible only through grueling practice. He had learned how to move his body in his wrestling classes, and he’d fostered his sense of balance using Xenophon’s practice apparatus. Thanks to the old Equipment, he’d grown familiar with his gear’s workings. His response was the summation of all of this training and not a matter of chance.
Just a meter away from the ground, an intense force ripped through his body and he came to a sudden stop. The harness spread the impact out to some degree but didn’t eliminate the stress altogether. Kuklo quickly started losing consciousness.
While he’d narrowly missed hitting the ground, that was not the end of his troubles. The impact also affected his anchor, which pulled itself out of the tree trunk, unable to support his body.
This time, Kuklo did fall to the ground, and that was when he blacked out.