Attack on Titan: Revelations

Origins

?: Fire!

I pulled the trigger as quickly as I could whilst carefully aiming down the sight of the gun, it was an uncomfortable feeling with the recoil slamming the butt of the rifle into my shoulder much harder than before.

Y/N: Damn it! This new models got a kick to it, gonna take a while to get used to this.

As I rubbed my shoulder which was still stinging from the force of the impact I looked up at the firing range to see that I had managed to hit the bullseye of the target again, this was no surprise as I had consistently been top of the class in marksmanship from the start although it still gave you that feeling of satisfaction seeing that perfect string of holes near the centre.

?: How have you managed to do that again? I'm always so close but you just manage to get ahead of me all the time. Do you know how frustrating that is?

The annoyed voice came from my right as I looked at its source with a smug expression.

Y/N: Guess we can't all be as gifted as me Octavian, but cheer up! Maybe one day you can match me in something!

There was a hit of sarcasm and mirth in my voice as I jokingly boasted to him which in turn earned me an attempted punch to my arm, which I dodged and said with a laugh:

Y/N: You cant match me in that either.

Octavian: Prick.

Laughing, I playfully shoved him back to his position whilst the commandant read out the scores, slowly walking up the line and inspecting where our bullets had made their marks. We waited silently as the commandant made his way to the end of the line, the hot sun beating down on us as we stood to attention.

?: F/N L/N A perfect score again, well done. Listen up everyone! This is what you should strive for, marksmanship is the backbone of any army. It defines the competency of a soldier and their effectiveness in the heat of battle. You as cadets in the Marleyan command project are the future! You are our future Generals, our colonels, our Admirals and members of our special forces and to become members of these prestigious ranks you must be the best of the best. You are all here for a reason-

Octavian quietly whispered to me:

Octavian: Yea our parents got us in.

It was no secret that the Marleyan military was rife with corruption. Nepotism and bribery had long since muddled the successful military of Marley into a corrupt mess full of incompetent and squabbling bureaucrats. This had a knock-on effect of ensuring that Marley's military fell behind the other nations of the world, not to such an extent that it became ineffective but it was obvious things needed to change if we were to dominate the continent, with titan powers becoming more and more ineffective as the years progressed. This was why I was here in the first place, the Marleyan command project was composed of supposed young Marleyan's who showed good promise for the future and was supposed to ensure the continued continental dominance of Marley.

I sighed, but even this project had clearly fallen victim to the systemic corruption within Marley, sure there were prodigies Octavian and myself were examples of this but there were still far too many children of politicians and businessmen who showed no degree of competency in the ranks.

?: Final results will be posted tomorrow, the rankings have already been decided! From these rankings, you will be allocated a position of understudy in the military so that you can continue to learn and be an asset to the motherland. Understood cadets?

All: Yes Commandant Trajan sir!

Commandant Trajan: Dismissed! L/N a word in my office please before you go.