Krista was writing some notes in her notebook as she sat down on a tree branch.
'I see…I will have to create another plan. With Annie injured, I will have to adjust her role to the next one.'
Krista didn't understand how she had ended up in this conundrum. She trained against royal guards, beings with advanced intelligence and the ability to strategize on the move, so why in the hell is she struggling with a stupid Tigrex? She gritted her teeth as she tightened her grip on her pen before she began to mutter to herself, "Perhaps the reason why is because it's a beast; it doesn't think; it just reacts. It doesn't have the intellect to think."
"Thinking of another plan?" A familiar, irritating voice interrupted her thought. Krista looked up from her pad to see Eren standing on top of the branch, standing across from her.
Resentment started to simmer before she said, "Speaking of a beast with no intellect, what do you want?"
"I said, are you cooking up another plan?" Eren asked.
"I am. What is it to you?" Krista said bitterly as she tapped her pen against her notebook.
"Oh, nothing except the fact of the possibility of passing or failing in a life-or-death situation," Eren reminded her; his grey eyes glanced at her blue ones.
Krista growled, tapping her notebook harder. "How about you come up with something? It seems that I'm the only one who makes plans."
Eren chuckled, a smug smile etched across his face. "Why? I'm just a beast with no intellect. And weren't you top 3 in academics? I'm sure you can come up with something."
"Academics don't always correlate to battle tactics, you buffoon," Krista seethed. "However, I appreciate you recognizing my achievements."
Eren crossed his arms, the smug smile erased from his face. "You kept on talking about it for a week when we got the results. I never knew you could be so proud of getting bronze."
Krista scoffed, "Those two are nerds. They had nothing else going for them besides academics. I say bronze is still quite an achievement for such an advanced program."
"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" Eren said with a chuckle leaving his mouth.
Krista tapped her notebook. " Well, the truth hurts sometimes."
"If only you were never born…" she thought, reciting her mother's final words.
Krista cleared her throat, shattering her thoughts before she tapped her notebook. "Let's get back on track. We need to deal with the Tigrex now. We need some sort of strategy. With Annie injured, she's essentially a liability."
"I wouldn't say that," Eren said. "She was still able to move around."
"She nearly got crushed by a tree when we were escaping from the fire," Krista mentioned. "As much as I respect Annie's capabilities, unfortunately, they're hindered by her injuries; surely you cannot deny that fact."
Krista heard a loud bang before she heard a creaking sound. She looked down to see Annie standing before a tree that was falling in front of her. She rubbed her thighs before she walked to another tree.
"Still think she's a liability?" Eren asked; his smug smirk returned.
"Perhaps I stand corrected, then," Krista had to admit. "But we'll truly see after this test."
Krista leaped off the branch. She approached Annie, who was slowly going through the motions of her low kick.
"What are you doing?" Krista asked.
"Testing my current limit, " Annie said. "I realized that whenever I do low kicks, my legs don't hurt compared to higher kicks."
"I see. So, can you still fight?" Krista crossed her arms.
"I can. I've dealt with similar injuries. I can handle it."
Krista nodded, but was still unsure of Annie's condition. "If you think so, then so be it. I have another plan in progress as of this moment."
"We need to deal with its tail," Annie said. "That blade attached to its tail is an issue. With the monster's crazy fighting style, the tail makes its spins much more deadly."
Krista hummed in agreement. "That is an issue. However, we need a severing weapon to separate the Tigrex from its tail, and I'm the only one with cutting weapons."
"You're not the only one." Eren leaped off from the branch. "I can do it."
Eren straightened his left hand before he manipulated the flame around it, forming a flowing short blade of flames.
Krista crossed her arms, pretending not to be even slightly impressed by it. "It seems that you learned something from the academy."
"I learned many things," Eren said, killing the flames on his hand. "Even before I went to the academy."
"So what's the plan?" Blake said, twirling his baton.
"Well, we need to deal with the tail of the Tigrex. With that blade on its tail, it makes its attacks much more lethal, especially when it spins." Krista summarised. "We need to cut off the tail; that's the main priority, and yours truly will do it."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what the fuck?!" Eren said, annoyed. "I told you I could do it."
" Well, I doubt that, as evidenced by the previous failure of you and Annie. Since I have a proper sword, I shall do the deed," Krista explained.
"What about the rest of us?" Blake asked.
"Blake, with that weird straw object, you can attack the beast from afar while these two deal with the beast from close range."
"Are you sure you want Annie on the front lines? I mean, you did call her a liability…" Eren placed his hands on the back of his head, averting his gaze.
"Did she?" Annie threw her a cold glare.
"I-I didn't mean that! I was just worried about you!" Krista lied. "I didn't want you to further risk yourself for this."
"Thanks for worrying, but I'm fine," Annie said, cracking her knuckles. "Let's get this over with."
Krista glanced at Eren as he chuckled and walked in front of them, leading the way back to the flying wyvern.
'That bloody rat tried to cause a rift between me and me? I swear to the Lord that if I didn't need him, I would've choked him here on the spot.'
Krista was in the back, trailing approximately three feet behind the others. She began to write some notes down in her notebook, analysing and recording the fighting style of Blake as well as his equipment. She knew the gist of Annie and Eren's style of combat, so she didn't need to be as detailed with their analysis as Blake's.
'It seems that he can control the density of his smoke as well,' Krista thought as she wrote down that aspect of his ability. She remembered when he created walls of smoke to create a safer path away from the burning trees.
"How close are we?" Annie asked.
"Not close at all. The scent is weak, but it's getting stronger as we walk there." Eren said. He glanced at her. "How are your legs? Any loss of feeling?"
"They're fine," Annie assured in her monotonous tone. "But I'm losing a bit of feeling."
Blake twirled his baton. "Then we'd better finish this quickly so you could get patched up."
Krista continued to write down her notes as she and her group traversed through the forest. The sounds of the tweeting of birds and useless small talk between her other teammates filled her ears.
She closed her book and glanced at Blake. She grew a confident smile with his combat style now recorded in her notebook.
With the third confrontation against the Tigrex in tow, Krista began to think of ways to cut off the Tigrex's tail.
She flipped to the end of her notebook and listed the available weaponry in her arsenal;
Whip of the Doubtful, Bow of the Stoic, Rifle of the Accurate, Rapier of the Rebel, Shield of the Defender, Hammer of the Strict.
She thought of perhaps using the rifle to pierce through the tail instead of using her rapier; therefore, she could shoot off the tail without risking herself by going in close range.
"Blake."
The tall teen was whistling while he was practising his swing. "Hmm?"
"How small can you make those smoke balls?" Krista asked.
"About the size of an eyeball," Blake answered, a look of confusion etched on his face. "Why?"
"I have an idea. A strategy where I can separate the tail from the body from a distance."
Annie crossed her arms. "You're going to shoot it off? The tigrex is fast. Think you have the aim for it?"
Krista laughed. Her face beamed in confidence. "Oh, Annie, do you really think that low of my skill? I was second in accuracy for a reason."
Krista summoned The Rifle of the Accurate. The stock of the bolt-action rifle was mahogany-coloured, with navy blue padding stitched on the butt and grip of the gun.
"Blake.Some balls of smoke this instant."
"What for?"
"To test something important. I want to verify if my accuracy and reloading speed are still refined."
"Alright, i'll throw a few, is that okay?"
"Make sure that they're of various weights. I want it to be a sufficent challenge for me."
Krista put both of her hands on the gun. One on the fore-stock and one on the grip. Her index finger made its way to the trigger.
Blake created some balls of smoke within his hand. "Ready?"
"Always."
"Okay, let's sharpen your skills," Blake took a short breath before tossing them high in the air.
Her finger curled around the dark, cold metal before she aimed at one of the balls of smoke.
'Hands steady. Breathing controlled. Eyes focused.' Krista recited Louis' words before she pulled the trigger.
The sound of the gunfire echoed throughout the forest. The bullet pierced through a ball of smoke before her hand swiftly grabbed the bolt handle, lifting and pulling it. The bullet exited from the chamber, vaporizing into blue ether as she pushed the bolt and slammed it down before she fired again, piercing through the next ball.
Lift. Pull. Push. Slam. Aim. Fire.
Those six instructions were etched into her muscle memory as, one by one, the balls dissipated from the speeding bullets. Krista lowered down as the smoke rose from the barrel of her rifle, shooting down all the balls of smoke in quick succession.
Blake clapped his hands, impressed by her feat. "That's amazing! And you did with a bolt-action rifle too? My doubts are gone now!"
"Mine isn't." Annie crossed her arms. "Are your bullets even strong enough to take off the tail? Plus, the tigrex is very agile; it won't be easy to shoot it off."
"Then we can keep it still," Eren said.
Annie looked at Eren, arms still crossed. "And how's that?"
Eren hummed in thought before he said, "I'll figure it out. I'm better at thinking on the fly anyway."
Annie sighed. "Whatever. We haven't even found the tigrex yet, so you have time to think about it."
Krista wanted to argue for his preferred improvisational method, but she wanted to get this test over with so she could train for the next one. She made her rifle disappear into the ether before she followed Eren. The heat from the afternoon sun irritated her skin, so she took off her jacket and placed it over her head, giving her arms some air and her forehead some coolness.
She opened her notebook again, theorizing about how Eren would stop the movement of the Tigrex.
'Eren isn't as strong as Reiner, so swinging it around is unlikely to be an option. Holding it down could be viable, but how could he do that? From what I witnessed during our shared tenure at the combat school, he struggled to manipulate his flames to form objects, and the Tigrex is a fast wyvern. Unless he's been more proficient at that aspect of this ability from graduation till now, he probably won't be relying on that option, knowing him.'
Krista tapped her notebook; impatience was brewing within her. "Any plans to hinder its movement?"
Blake raised his hand. "I could damage its legs. A good old crack at the hind legs could do the trick."
"I agree," Annie said, hands in the pockets of her jacket. "It will be easier to take it down that way."
Eren raised his fist, kneeling as he carefully snuck behind a tree. He waved his left hand at Krista and the others, gesturing for them to follow him. "The tigrex. It's sleeping. We could do a surprise attack."
"How can you see the tigrex from here?" Blake asked.
"I have very good senses; I can see very far. Plus, I can hear its snoring from here," Eren smirked. "Annie, you want to fuck it up?"
Annie smirked back, but it quickly faded into a neutral frown. "You're seriously asking me that? Of course I do."
Eren cracked his knuckles. "Krista, get your gun warm. We're going in. Blake, hit one of its hind legs just in case."
Krista quietly scoffed as she and the others followed Eren to the location of the Tigrex. She removed the jacket from the top of her head and wrapped it around her waist.
She saw the sleeping Tigrex, its body lying in the middle of the open field. Her team stood by the edge of the open field.
"Alright, let's get into position." Krista summoned her rifle once more.
Krista went back into the bushes as the others slowly got closer to the wyvern. She leaped to get to higher ground before she heard a rip and felt a strong, cool breeze on her right thigh. She looked down to see a bighole in her tights.
"Damn it. Luckily, I brought extra pairs just in case," Krista said, bringing her focus back to getting in position. She leaped from tree to tree to get a better angle at the tail.
She carefully stood on top of the thick branch below her before she aimed at the Tigrex, ready for the plan to be executed.
She took a deep breath as she steadied her rifle. She remembered one of her teacher's lessons before her right index finger crawled to the trigger. She looked at the others below her, sneaking their way to ambush the ferocious beast.
She smirked at this situation. It was supposed to be this way. She's nobility, so she has much more value than them combined. Or did she? She pulled back her rifle and closed her eyes to try to regain her focus.
'Do you want to prove yourself? To show that you are truly my daughter?'
"I do," Krista said to herself before she aimed her gun at the wyvern in slumber.