The Empire of Titans Chapter 70 (The Ackerman Blood) (Patreon)

That Night during dinner, everyone was gathered in the hall where groups were split onto different tables, eating bread and sipping on a bowl of soup. The 104th were seated relatively close together. With Sasha already chowing down and Mikasa shoving loaves of bread down Eren's throat. Nile had already departed shortly after the whole incident with Kenny and Levi. He was quite relieved to leave, not wanting to receive even more of Levi's anger. Honestly, the shorter and younger man terrified Nile; he is humanity's strongest soldier. After all, who would want to be on his to-kill list?

This dinner included Traute and Kenny on the table, usually consisting of Mike, Erwin, Hange, and Levi. The other members of the Anit-personnel squad were spread out at different tables to mingle with the scouts. However, tonight, as Levi had taken his black tea, instead of heading towards his usual table, he headed straight in the opposite direction to the 104ths. They all saw him approach and were readying themselves to follow any orders he was about to give them. Instead of saying anything, Levi quietly sat at their table and sipped his tea. Holding his teacup from the top instead of the handle. Everyone in the room who noticed this change of seating was shocked.

"uh, sir?" Eren began speaking.

"Yes, Jeager," Levi said, still calmly sipping his tea.

"No offense, Captain, but if you don't mind me asking, why are you sitting with us?" Armin asked. Even though he and everyone had a hint of the reason, all kept quiet to anticipate their Captain's reasoning.

"Easy Arlet, the table over there has filth contaminating it." 'so blunt' was all everyone thought of Levi's statement. Erwin, Hange, and Mike all shook their heads, wondering how their short comrade could be so blunt. Although this caused another person to react. Kenny.

"HA! Filth, seriously! You brat, you should be used to filth by now! Where did that underground spunk I hammered into you go? You even drink tea! Oh, Shit, don't tell you're now a spoilt, pampered pig of the military nobility!" Everyone was somewhat shocked to discover that their highly respected Captain used to live in the underground, well, all except for Mike, Hange, Annie, and Erwin, who already knew. The members usually would have jumped to angrily yell at Kenny for the disrespect; however, the dark aura coming from Levi could be felt to the core of their bodies. Erwin silently sighed at the amount of paperwork he would have to fill in later.

Levi gripped his cup with such intensity. Even Mikasa felt the urge to scoot away. She seriously didn't like her tiny Captain, but even she knew that insulting his clean tendencies and his tea was a really big no-no. Levi's hair covered his expression from everyone; the cup had smashed into pieces, although none of the shards had embedded into his hand. Luckily, but surely, the hot liquid had done some damage to his skin. Oh yeah, Corporal Levi was PISSED. Annie couldn't help but shudder at the memory of her Captain beating her up in the courtroom. Knowing firsthand how brutal Captain Levi was. Levi slowly stood up. Walking his way towards Kenny. Erwin quickly reacted, giving Mike and Hange a silent command to be ready to break up the fight.

"Now Levi, please calm down," Erwin spoke with a hint of urgency.

What happened next shocked everyone. Instead of punching Kenny, he grabbed the bottle of alcohol on their table and chugged all the contents into his throat, finishing with a calm expression dawned on his face, and then moved on to another bottle, doing the exact same. Everyone was shocked. No way, their tea-loving Captain, whom no one had ever seen drink anything besides tea and water, just chugged not one but two whole bottles of alcohol and turned out perfectly fine, not a hint of red on his pale complexion. They were sure even Pixis would have at least felt a bit tipsy after drinking all that instantly.

"Now that's the Levi I trained! WooHoo!" Kenny laughed.

"Sir, I think you have drunk a bit too much," Traute stated monotonously.

"Oh, lighten up, Traute; live a little will yah, even the brat stopped being a prick," was all Kenny responded with.

That was when Levi aimed a fist at Kenny's head. However, Kenny grabbed onto his arm, stopping his fist about 3 cm away from his face. But Levi countered by stepping onto Kenny's head, forcing him to face splat onto the table.

"Bastard! damn, those short legs of yours hurt... How 'bout this brat? Tomorrow, let's have an underground brawl just like old times, what d'ya say?"

Before Levi got to answer, Erwin intervened, seeing a golden opportunity to avoid a massive stack of paperwork with the loophole, saying that there were no ill intentions to this bit of violence as it was for entertainment and not blood-curdling hatred.

"He'll do it!" spoke Erwin, giving a challenging look at Levi, daring him to oppose. Knowing why Erwin was so quick to respond, Levi decided that this was the best option for both him and the commander, as he wouldn't get into trouble with the higher-ups. Levi rolled his eyes and let go.

"Fine, tomorrow," Levi said before grabbing another cup and returning to the stunned, frozen 104ths. He grabbed his teapot before exiting the hall and returning to his room. Tomorrow Kenny, Tomorrow.

Later

Levi shut the door behind him. He entered into his own private but simple room. It consisted of a small closet, an average-sized bookshelf, a desk, and a bed that had never been used before. He only used his bed for about one to three hours of sleep.

He set his teapot and cup on his wooden desk. Pouring himself a cup and immediately chugging it down. Although he can take quite a large amount of liquor, Levi prefers not to. As he does not enjoy the taste of alcohol, he rather spends his time drinking his favorite brand of black tea. After washing down the disgusting taste, Levi immediately went to work, preparing for tomorrow's brawl.

A large collection of knives lay sprawled out on his bed. Levi picked one up and started sharpening and polishing them until they shone brightly enough to blind someone. It had been a while since he had to take out his personal knife collection after it had been tucked away in the back of his closet.

Since joining the Survey Corps, Levi had abandoned his use of knives but never had the heart to throw them away. The knives were useless against Titans, so they were just hindrances to him in an expedition but perfect for human combat. He could never break the habit of at least carrying one on his personal.

He can still remember which specific knives he had used previously for his jobs that involved murdering the target. There was one specific knife that Levi was hesitant to use but decided to use anyway. It was a small knife; it had scratches from overuse but was still efficient.

It was the very first knife Kenny gifted to him. It was small, so it could accommodate his once tiny size and lack of skill.

After cleaning his knives and choosing certain ones to tuck hidden away on his person, Levi had thought of using guns, but the idea didn't sit well with him as he had never fancied using guns, even if his skill with the weapon was advanced. He doubted that his old gun was still in mint condition. He decided to instead later see if the storage room contained any handguns he could tuck away underneath his clothes.

Thinking of clothes, Levi noted his underground clothes from years ago were still in supreme condition. Contemplating if he should wear his scout uniform or change into his underground thug clothes instead. It was an underground brawl, after all. First, he had to see if his old clothes still fit him. First was his white blouse, which unsurprisingly fit him perfectly like before, along with his brown vest and black pants. Knowing that he hasn't grown any taller, obviously, his clothes would still fit. His scout boots were also replaced by his boots from the past, which stopped underneath his knees, unlike his normal knee-high boots that go over his knees.

Peacefully sipping the rest of his tea, Levi sat quietly in his new outfit, staring at the night sky. He remembered Isabel's word about the sky, that even if the color was the same, it was totally different. There was no ceiling. Levi had abandoned his underground past. His friends Isabel and Farlan were gone. All he had from there were memories he had locked away and the few combat tricks he had learned, which weren't from Kenny. Levi had abandoned the language of the underground. Although he still had a tendency to use those words, Levi was much worse back then. It wasn't that the nobility scared him enough to have to change. It was that it brought Erwin much-unneeded trouble. After all, the nobility were petty pigs and weren't scared to abuse their power and cause trouble.

The last drop of expensive black tea was gone. The now newly dressed man had decided to wear his cloak to avoid questions from any passerby, especially Jeager and his curious friends.

Levi's mind briefly went to Eren; the brat would soon become King if everything went according to plan. Levi wasn't sure if that was good for Eren; while he didn't know the brat as well as the Ackerman brat did, he knew Eren desired Freedom. So, becoming King would give him way too many things he needed to do, and most importantly, he was a Soldier. Levi knew Eren wasn't made to discuss politics, how the economy works, and all that boring Shit. Levi didn't say that; he just hoped that Eren could do a good enough job.

He made his way to the storage room without bumping into anyone. As he entered, he thought about how he had cleaned this room about two days ago. The state he left the room was comparable to a freshly clean ballroom of the royal palace, tended to by over a hundred servants. The windows were spotless. Not a single fingerprint could be seen, and the thick layer of dust that once covered the objects in that room was chased away by Levi himself.

However, Levi's first glance at the room burned him to his very soul. The most of the room was how he left it. However, the corner where the spare blankets were once neatly folded up and stacked looked unrecognizable to Levi. What on earth could have happened for the members of the scouts to cause this pigsty?

The realization hit Levi like a train; of course, the random gust of coldness hit their headquarters last Night. It caused some of the members to shiver. He was definitely going to have a word and probably throw a few punches tomorrow about this. Levi efficiently gathered the blankets and started folding them perfectly, one by one. In no time, he was finished. Now, back to what he was really here for.

Levi headed straight for a small cupboard tucked in the back of the now perfectly tidy room. Inside the cupboard, stacks of ODM blades were present. Still shiny from being polished by Levi himself. Levi couldn't remember if there were any guns because all he did was polish the ODM gear and leave the weapons alone at the very back of the shelf. He dragged a large tray from the back towards himself. There it was, two handguns, although coated with a thick layer of dust, but efficiently wise, it was gold. After dusting both, he took both guns, hiding them under his cloak.

Levi exited the storage room, but he still had to wash away his teapot and cup. Knowing full well that the others would still be there, it didn't matter, though.

He opened the door with an emotionless expression. He stared right at the weirdest scene he had ever seen. It seems they all thought they could loosen up a little by getting drunk tonight.

The girls were stationed at the side laughing. Mikasa was sitting in a happy daze, probably fantasizing. Sasha tried to steal the remaining food on the distracted soldier's plates. Krista tried to hold her giggles in, the keyword being tried. Meanwhile, the girl beside her, Ymir, didn't try hiding it like her blonde friend. After noticing Levi, everyone stared at him to see any kind of expression. Levi was disturbed, but he was a master of hiding his emotion, so his face remained blank.

Heading towards the kitchen, he washed his teapot and cup and quickly left the room without a word, pretending he did not see them drunk. Hange's loud laughter matching Kenny's was the last thing he heard. That was stupid.

Tomorrow

Faint rays of sunlight and calls of early birds signaled it was dawn, which woke Levi from his nightly reading. It was weird to start off reading a hobby he only picked up after joining the military. No matter how he was one of the only well-rounded thugs in the underground, knowing how to write and read was as luxurious as sunlight for the underground. He had to ask Erwin, Mike, and even crazy titan-horny Hange for help. Now Levi had handwriting that looked like letters from a printed paper instead of handwritten scripts.

After arriving at the kitchen, Levi had taken breakfast, which consisted of bread and black tea, to his room. It was still quite early but nonetheless normal. Being social was not one of his strong suits, so avoiding it was always his preferred course of action. Once again, Levi picked up his book and continued reading. He waited longer than usual as there would be some who were going to be late from a hangover. He put on his cloak once again with his last cup of black tea in hand and headed to the dining hall where everyone else should be.

Entering, he noticed that only the lackeys of the anti-personnel squad were there and scouts like the 104th, but Mike and Erwin were missing. There is no sign of Kenny and Blondie. No matter. Levi seated himself on the table where Hange was stationary. Hange was always one who could hold liquor to a certain extent.

"Good morning! Are you excited for today, LEVIIIII!" Why did Hanji have to be so loud first thing in the morning? Nonetheless, Levi only responded to Hange with a grunt.

Later, Erwin and Mike arrived later, looking tired but decent enough for the day.

Levi continued to sip his tea slowly. A loud sound from the door attracted everyone's attention.

"BANG! BANG! Are you ready, LEVI!" shouted Kenny, aiming his guns to add a dramatic effect. Traute behind him, giving him a deadpan expression. Levi just continued drinking his tea while rolling his eyes internally.

Later

"Listen up! Soldiers, usually we would be holding training sessions; however, today there is a brawl between our own Captain Levi and the leader of the anti-personnel control squad, Kenny!" Erwin announced. Everyone began cheering and betting on who would win.

"The rules just please don't kill each other." Erwin sent a glance towards Levi. Receiving only the cold silent treatment.

Kenny tilted his hat, walking confidently forward. While Levi was still near the entrance with the 104th behind him.

"Beat him to a bloody pulp Captain!"

"Yeah! we're rooting for you Captain!"

"Beat that asshole, captain."

"Thanks... but right now I'm not your captain," Levi stated monotonously, handing Hange his cloak. Revealing Levi's thug clothes in front of everyone. His ODM gear is out in full display.

Hanji, Mike, and Erwin felt they were seeing the same Levi from years back. After Levi entered the small area. Erwin shoots a green smoke flare, indicating the brawl has started, while shouting 'BEGIN.'

Once the flare began, Levi used his ODM to reach a rooftop. Making sure to stay hidden. While thinking of his next moves, he heard rustles behind him. Levi quickly dodged a bullet while throwing a knife, cutting off strands of Kenny's hair. Mid-air, Levi tried to strike Kenny but was blocked by his gun.

Resulting in Levi's blades breaking. Kenny had retreated into the back of an abandoned building to reload his guns. Levi planned a sneak attack using new blades to slice Kenny.

Ultimately, Kenny uses his ODM to dodge and then charges towards Levi, shooting once again. This time, one of the bullets grazed his arm. Levi retreated into a building, flipping through the mess inside.

Levi changed his weapons, this time into knives, his guns ready. Jumping out the window and landing perfectly, Levi ran onto a street. Kenny was tailing behind him. This caused Levi to smirk inside. Dodging Kenny's bullets, Levi threw his knives towards Kenny, slicing his leg.

Ignoring the pain, Kenny immediately reloaded his bullets. Kenny made a sharp turn into an alleyway, only spotting Levi's last second from the reflection of his gun. Levi had shot bullets towards Kenny while he did an aerial. Then he jumped out of the way, avoiding Kenny's bullets. Kenny maneuvered his ODM in the opposite direction. They ran across one of the building roofs, jumped off, and then shot Levi from behind. Levi only managed to dodge the last second, turning around to shoot Kenny. Both men were hit; both decided that retreat would be a better idea for the time being.

Levi jumped into a building to hide for now. He turned around and noticed that it was a storage room filled with bags of flour. This was the emergency supply of flour, water, and other ingredients like oil and canned foods; in case anything happened to their food supplies, he was not just referring to Titans but a certain potato-loving brunette girl. Grabbing a bag, Levi was going to use his lucky find to good use.

Kenny was pissed. The brat had gotten two good hits on him. Luckily, the cuts weren't that deep, but it still hurt. He would have thought Levi would be rusty after years of only battling Titans, but it seems that Ackerman's blood in him never lost the old touch.

Kenny kept his guard up, unsure when Levi would sneak up on him. Guns locked and loaded, Kenny cautiously made his way out of his hiding spot. That was when he saw a lump on top of a roof. Kenny chuckled to himself, laughing that Levi was too used to killing Titans.

Roofs were the safest place to hide from titans, but humans, now that's a different story. Kenny swung up to a nearby chimney and shot towards the lump. He expected the runt to dodge, not explode. Kenny realized that what he shot was not Levi but a barrel of oil covered by a cloth.

The fire ignited a rope that led to exploding different smaller amounts of oil, which caused trees and even some smaller houses to collapse. Levi had to preserve this training ground, or he would be hearing about property damage from Erwin.

Kenny only narrowly managed to avoid the falling debris. While Kenny was distracted, Levi charged at Kenny. Levi used a large bag of flour to block the bullets aimed at him. This caused the bag to explode in front of Kenny, which left him in a coughing fit. Levi tackled Kenny to the ground. Kenny threw blind but well-aimed punches at Levi. After clearing his vision, Kenny aimed a shot toward Levi with him, mirroring that action with his own gun. Suddenly, Levi was dragged back by Mike. Kenny was held back by Traute. Erwin appeared behind the two.

"Didn't I tell you two not to kill each other?" Erwin said, putting a hand towards his face.

"Well that was certainly an exciting battle," Hange said in the wrong moment. Levi glared at them and got his way out of Mike's stronghold. Levi made his way to the exit, heading towards headquarters. Levi returned back to his room to clean up. Once inside his room, Levi let the healing ability do its job; he couldn't help but still find it odd whenever steam came out from his wounds.

Later

After the battle, Levi spent that day cleaning his weapons from the blood, dirt, and flour. He skipped lunch and decided to finish some paperwork, expecting his pile to grow after today. It had been hours since he had shown his face publicly.

Hours later, Levi made his way to dinner. He had already changed back into his uniform. After consuming a small dinner, Levi casually started enjoying his tea in peace. That peace didn't last long when the 104th cadets and the rest of the soldiers arrived. Erwin, Hange, and Mike arrived, sat down at the table, and began eating. They ate in silence until Erwin started speaking.

"Levi, I must congratulate you on how you handled the fight. Aside from the end, you had tried to cause as little collateral damage as possible. The only damage made was a small house that was already on the verge of collapsing. I'm sure the paperwork would lessen drastically due to your action," Erwin thanked.

Levi silently nodded in response to Erwin. After a few more cups of tea, Levi excused himself from dinner. He had noticed that Kenny did not arrive at dinner even though Blondie was there, though she sat with some others.

As Levi walked through the halls, he spotted a tall figure wearing a hat sitting alone outside, smoking. Instead of ignoring the man, who was obviously Kenny, Levi thought this was his best chance to get answers.

"Oi, Kenny."

"Levi," was all Kenny said before inhaling a smoke. After a small moment of silence, Levi sat down next to the man.

"Heh, damn, I should thank you, Levi, I haven't had so much fun since before I meant Uri."

Uri? Who was that? Levi wanted to ask, but before he even got to speak, Kenny began laughing.

"Hahaha! I get it now; we were all drunk on something," this confused Levi.

Silence once again surrounded the area.

This time, Levi was the one who broke the silence.

"I didn't know you smoked; I thought you only drank, Kenny."

"Only when it becomes stressful, you want one?" Kenny asked. Levi shrugged and took Kenny's offer.

"Damn, seriously, kid, I can't say I'm disappointed you grew up as a good fighter."

"Speaking of the past, I have a few questions for you Kenny." Levi blunt, as always, spoke after exhaling a smoke.

"That day, why did you leave me?"

Kenny chuckled at this.

"I never planned to stay, just decided to help your mother out one last time by teaching you," Kenny answered.

"My mother... Kenny what were you to my mother?" Levi asked a question that he was dying to have answered for years.

This Kenny laughed at, shaking his head. He turned around and flicked Levi's head.

"Idiot! I was her brother!" This shocked Levi; he cursed himself for thinking otherwise.

"So that means you know my last name, then?" Levi asked either way if Kenny was his father or his uncle; he was still able to possess a last name.

"Look your mother and I had a hard time with the family name, so don't go yelling it out to everyone. Is Ackerman." Kenny spoke.

"Ackerman like Jeager's brat, Ackerman?"

"If your referring to that girl with the short black bob and red scarf, then yes."

Out of all people, Levi thought, he just had to be related to the one person who glares at him every chance she gets.

"I didn't really get the chance, what is she like?" Kenny questioned, catching Levi a little off guard.

"She's a brat. She's like a sick puppy for Eren; from the reports we have read about her. Apparently, Eren saved her from some bandits when she was little. But I won't deny that she's a good soldier. Eventually, she might be stronger than Mike." Levi answered, wondering why Kenny was suddenly asking about her.

"I see. We Ackermans tend to be like that when we have someone important that we wanted to protect, that someone might be a parent, sibling, leader, or, in her case, a lover." Kenny added before letting out a chuckle.

"Do you have someone like she has?" For a brief moment, Levi was sure he must have heard him wrong.

"What?"

"You might be in your early thirties brat, but you need to find someone eventually. What about that crazy scientist woman?" Levi wanted to scoff at the idea, but as he thought about it. He hated to admit that Hange had grown on him during the years. She was beautiful, and when she wasn't rambling about Titans, she was a pleasant company, but Levi would never agree with Kenny.

"What about you, old man? You are not exactly young?" Levi questioned, turning his attention to him. Kenny suddenly looked sad as he puffed out smoke from his mouth.

"When the sun has set, no candle can ever replace it." Levi's eyes remained on him; he had never thought of Kenny feeling for someone like that.

"Who was she?" Levi found himself asking him.

"She's dead. I will let her rest in peace. I have my memories of her, that's all I need." Kenny said with a hint of melancholy.

Levi and Kenny spent the Night chatting and reminiscing about the past and what happened after they split away all those years back. Levi had learned about Kenny's time with Uri and being his bodyguard.

Tomorrow

Horses were being saddled. Kenny and his squad were getting ready to leave. Their stay was over. Everyone had arrived to see them off except for a short man of 160 cm. They were saying goodbyes. When Levi arrived, he used a small knife and attacked Kenny, who blocked it on instinct.

Kenny observed the knife closely. He realized it was the same knife he had gifted Levi when he was a tiny kid.

"You better not die out there old man," Levi said simply before turning around and walking away.

Kenny tilted his hat, "Neither should you, little brat."

Kenny and his squad had already left, riding off into the distance.

Kenny

After riding for hours, they reached an isolated place in the woods. "Did you talk with Eren Yeager?" The blonde girl asked once they stopped riding.

"I did. We change our plans." Kenny shouted for his entire squad to hear.

"What about King Rod?" One asked, still feeling anxious, but his face turned pale when Kenny looked at him with his menacing grin.

"Rod was always a coward, and his ultimate goal is to get everyone in the island killed for some nonsense sin that happened before even my grandfather was born. The Yeager boy has brought us all an opportunity, an opportunity much better than Rod can give us." Kenny slashed his hand, which was quickly healed by steam.