God of Destruction Chapter 5

Levi maintained a bored expression, thoroughly unimpressed as he easily blocked the hook coming his way. It was almost laughably weak really, though in fairness his opponent was worn out from their time in training, but that still didn't excuse the complete lack of technique he saw in her movements.

It also didn't make him hold back. Well, not much anyway, if he really wanted to murder Hitch with his bare hands it would be easy. It's not like he hadn't beaten people to death before.

In retaliation he swept Hitch's leg out from under her so fast she hardly had time to yelp, before grabbing the brown haired woman by the arm and pinning her down as she fell flat on her face.

Taking care not to break the limb, though Hitch would regenerate he wasn't cruel enough to subject her to needless pain like that, he dug his knee into her back and kept her binded to the ground with her face against the dirt.

He'd feel bad if she wasn't such a shit fighter.

"Stop! I yield!" She yelled out almost instantly, though he made sure to hold her for one more instant to ingrain the feeling of helplessness into her mind before finally letting her out.

As Hitch rose up from the ground, dirt staining her features, Levi couldn't stop himself from barking out. "What the fuck was that Dreyse? That was pathetic."

The derogative words earned him a defiant glare, the previous defeat melting off her expression. Though noticeably, she didn't retort his words, which told him everything he needed to know.

"Honestly, you don't have to be so rough and mean about training me! If you treat every woman you meet as horribly as me, then it's no wonder your single." She snarked out, clutching the arm he'd pinned down for emphasise. However, he wasn't amused by her words.

"'Mean'? I'm sorry that I'm not as lazy as your other MP friends, but here in the Scouts we take our jobs seriously. To be with us, you need extreme amounts of discipline and stubbornness so please forgive me for being mad at you for not meeting my expectations. Afterall, it's not like your the holder of one of our three Titans. Oh wait, you are."

Those words had the desired effect, making the fire in Hitch's expression go out as she stared at the ground in frustration. She was feeling the heat, that much he could tell, but whether it was too much would be entirely up to her. She could crack under the pressure, or she would become stronger for it. It was sink or swim.

And, Armin had told him to make her swim.

Levi found his mind wandering back to the past six months as he recalled Armin's drastic change. Ever since coming back, the boy had practically been a whole new person. He was logical, cunning and at times downright cold. He was certainly a better leader and soldier for it, however.

His eternal frown deepened ever so slightly as he recalled the moment he'd chosen to save Armin- or more precisely to let Erwin die- and if it even mattered which one he chose. Because he'd seen Armin's eyes, the ones he'd seen so full of life, and sometimes they looked so much like-

Levi shook his head, trying to return to the real world, but that didn't go unnoticed by Hitch.

"Is something the matter, Captain?" She asked.

"It's nothing. Now, go take a break. Kicking your ass gets boring." He commented, making sure to sound extra rude so that she dropped it, and it worked if the way she scowled was anything to go by.

"Whatever, Captain shorty." She spoke mockingly as she walked away, but he hardly reacted to the jab at his height.

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The towering figure of the Colossal Titan leaned against Wall Rose, half limp with it's arms strewn across the other side and nearly touching the ground. In fact, were most of the Pure Titans around not dead, they would have been feasting on the massive Titan's skin like leeches.

Armin emerged from his Titan, the overwhelming feeling of heat slowly fading as he stuck out the nape, and asked between panted breaths. "How long was that, Hange?"

The one-eyed Commander had a notepad in her hands, which she quickly wrote down something in before looking up. "That was two hours, fiftyy-one minutes, and twelve seconds."

The answer made Armin frown. "That's about the same as last time, and the other three times." He noted out loud.

"Indeed. I think this might be your hard limit when it comes to your Titan form, since your improvement has all but completely halted these last few trial runs." Hange noted, neither her face nor tone showing any disappointment. "I suppose this is as far as you go, Armin."

He scowled as he pulled out of his Titan completely, jumping down the Wall until he met the hard ground and tried not to let his frustration show. Three hours. That was the absolute limit he could maintain his Titan form for, in fact that would be an overstatement since he was completely sapped of energy if he tried to hold it that long. He could transform twice, though that wasn't really a good idea since just doing so once left him drained and transforming again made keeping his form together even more difficult.

As much as he hated it, there was a real possibility he couldn't stretch his Titan powers any further.

Hange seemed to read his mind, speaking comfort to him. "Don't worry, just getting your abilities down this well is a boon for us. Besides, even without your Titan powers you've been doing a lot for the Survey Corps. The very fact you can do all of that on top of Titan training is admirable."

He was grateful for her words, but he still wasn't entirely placated. "You're probably right, but this is still hard news to take. Over a hundred soldiers died for this power, and yet I can't push it any further."

Hange's eyes softened. "Not everything is riding on you. In fact, as Commander I'm probably not doing a very good job by letting you and Floch take charge as the recruiters. But, in my defence, you've been doing a fantastic job there. I never thought the Scouts would ever have so many soldiers, but then again I guess the fact Titans aren't our main enemy probably helps."

Not missing a beat, he corrected her. "I actually enjoy recruitment. It's my chance to help out, and it even makes speaking to big crowds a lot easier. At the first one my heart was pounding like crazy, but now? I can't lie and say it isn't still daunting, but it becomes easier every time I step up." The best part was, he wasn't even lying. It turned out he had quite the knack for leadership.

He looked over the Wall, and out into Titan territory. It was mostly clear, though there were a few giants in the horizon stalking around, the land was mostly flat. In fact, if his math was right, the Walls would soon be free of Titans. A time he was looking forward to, since the view would probably look better without those cannibalistic monsters prowling outside.

In all of his last life, he never really saw a view like at the peak of the Walls. It was unnatural, being so high when everything else was so low, but beautiful nonetheless. It was a sight to savour.

Feeling the Titan marks on his face fade away, Armin briefly pondered on what he could do for the rest of his day. It was a rare day where he only had to do Titan training, which admittedly was his own suggestion, and he had... nothing to do. In fact, he couldn't remember any time he'd spent within the past six months doing anything other than work; with the exception of his regular visits to Historia. Maybe go out for a drink or two with his friends, most of which were terribly light-weight, but nothing more than that.

Quickly realising how much of a workaholic he was, Armin suddenly asked Hange. "What else are you doing today? Are the MP's finally going to let Hitch transform?"

Hange let out a sigh. "They say if we let her then- oh who am I kidding, they just don't wanna give us what we want." She quickly broke her professional demeanour, probably since it was just the two of them.

Armin groaned, sadly not being surprised. "Of course they don't want to make things easy. Even when we're fighting a common enemy they're unreasonable."

The Military Police were, to put it bluntly, idiots of the highest offense. They constantly made excuses to make life difficult for the Scouts, at this point it was definitely out of spite more than anything else, and Hitch's Titan powers were another thing entirely. They'd agreed to allow her to train under us, probably since they were too lazy to whip her into shape themselves, but somehow she wasn't allowed to transform. It was simply ridiculous.

Hange sighed helplessly, looking rather defeated. "The premier can't help us on this front. Since most of the higher-ups are from the Military Police they have the final say on a lot of Military matters. This is due to their officers being mostly senior, and all our veterans are... well, they're a lot more youthful. In other words, our hands are tied."

Not wanting to hear that, Armin wondered if there was a way to get Hitch on their side. Whilst the MP's control the Female Titan, what they truly wanted was a good PR boost. So, if they could just-

It suddenly hit him, and he was quick to voice his thoughts before they left. "Hange, I have an idea."

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Nile Dok sat in his office, going through his routine paper work without much on his mind. His family lived in Wall Rose, more specifically in Karanese, despite the fact they could have moved to Wall Sina. This was because both he and Marie- And his dead friend Erwin- all grew up there when they were children. They'd frolic in the streets, ran through town, and sit by the river together.

It was the good old days back then, when his best friend was just a regular kid. Smart, almost scarily so, but a kid nonetheless. Not the Commander of the Survey Corps who willingly rode through hell time and time again until all his scraps of innocence and passion were stripped.

It broke his heart when Erwin was alive, to see his friend so determined to chase his dream outside the Walls when he could have done so much good within them. At least, that was how he used to think.

Setting his pen down, Nile couldn't stop himself from moving into deep thought. Erwin had been right. His crazy, clepto, conspiracy theory was right. There were humans out there, despite what they'd always been told, and he desperately wished that wasn't so.

His friend has always been too smart, and part of him wished he'd never learned the truth. That him and his family could have lived their days in peace, not having to worry about Marley and Titans and war with other people. Ignorance truly was bliss, and it felt like salt in the wound that he got to learn about it and yet Erwin- the man who'd devoted his life to chasing this truth- died without knowing a thing.

The door's to his office opened without prompt, causing Nile to snap out of his inner thoughts as two familiar faces walked in. Two he wasn't exactly the biggest fan of.

"Commander Dok, we need to talk." Armin Arlert, the holder of the Colossal Titan, began with a serious expression on his face. Though, Nile was more concerned with the fact nobody had told him they'd be arriving in Stohess. It was too sudden for his taste.

Hange followed up on her Titan's words. "We're sorry for arriving on such short notice, though we have to discuss something. Namely, the restrictions having been placed on Hitch Dreyse under our authority."

Already hating where this was going, he narrowed his eyes. "We've already discussed this is court, and we came to the agreement that the Scout regiment would be in charge of preparing the Female Titan for the time when she eventually transforms. The actual shifting abilities will fall on us, so I don't see why we have anything to discuss."

Hardly batting an eye, the boy who lived in place of his friend argued instantly. "We did agree to that, though that was before some interesting information came to light. You see, Hitch has been receiving the memories of her predecessor recently and those brought some interesting facts to light regarding what the Female Titan can do."

"Oh really? And what might that be?" Nile crossed his arms, watching the two like a hawk as they tried to appeal to him.

"The Female Titan possesses the power to mimic the abilities of Titan shifters by consuming their flesh. That was what made Annie Leonhart such a tricky to deal with. She gained the power of hardening by consuming the Armoured Titan, the power to create a crystal cocoon by eating the Warhammer Titan, and the power of scream by consuming the Beast Titan. The last of which being a Titan of royal blood, so we believe that by eating the Founder's flesh she might gain the same ability."

Nile raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and why would you think that? Eren Yeager isn't of royal blood, so he can't use the Founder's power."

"That shouldn't matter." Armin interjected, explaining smoothly. "Whilst Eren might not have royal blood, he is the Founding Titan. Whilst this power might be dormant, it's still there, so in theory Hitch should be able to gain this ability by taking in some of Eren's Titan."

He pressed further. "And how would this power be of any major help? Even if the Female Titan could gain this ability, and that's a big if, how would that be of any help? The last Female couldn't command any of the Titans she called, so what would make this one any different?" He couldn't help but point out a big hole in their logic.

In response, Armin almost looked amused. "She doesn't need to command them. There are a lot of Titans in Wall Maria and the Executioner from hell won't be able to kill them all. Using her Titan powers, Hitch will make gathering up Titans to kill much simpler. If she screamed enough then they'd come running, and we could clear out Wall Maria much faster."

Huffing, Nile remained unimpressed, "And I suppose to do this we'd need to allow the Female to remain in your ranks, presumably to train under the authority of the Scouts?"

His sarcastic question was given a serious answer by Armin. "That would be ideal, especially since we are the only division with any real experience training Titan shifters. There's also the possibility that your men couldn't handle Hitch if she were to lose control, like most shifters do if they were to lose control, and that would probably get people killed."

Nile actually took a moment to stop at that, only to shake his head. "My men are all the top ten of multiple generations, we can handle a single Titan." In his mind he was trying not to show how uneasy he felt at the idea of needless death.

In all honesty. giving the Female to the Scouts sounded like the logical decision. But still, he knew how crafty the Scouts were. If you gave them an inch then they'd somehow end up with a mile.

Hange didn't stop pushing though. "We could clear out Maria in a few months if we had her power, that much I can tell you Nile. I know you're smart enough to see that, so why won't you just work with us on this?"

He scoffed as he stood up. "You want to know why? It's because you Scouts aren't trustworthy. You've always thought about what's best for your own agenda, not what was best for the Walls as a whole. I can't in good conscience put all my eggs in the Survey Corps basket, I just can't."

"And why do you think that way, Nile?" Armin asked, taking the man by surprise referring to him by name, though he didn't stop. "You aren't wrong when you say us Scouts have always done what we thought was best, but it was never for selfish purposes like you say. Every Scout who died outside the Walls, be it ignorant or not, wasn't fighting for their own selfish dreams. Not entirely anyway. They were fighting because, for some reason, they thought that humanity didn't deserve to die. That the people within the Walls, no matter how much they degraded and insulted and subjugated them, didn't deserve to be eaten alive by the Titans. Erwin did that too, he gave up everything back then despite it all, and I'll be damned before I listen to you sit there and stop me from carrying their fight on!"

Even Hange showed a bit of surprise at how heated Armin sounded with those last words, but thankfully the boy did manage to compose himself as he continued on still. "Erwin Smith wasn't perfect, but he was a damned good man. He was brilliant, and I need to make my life worth the same as his. I know if he were here you'd eventually say yes. You'd argue, but eventually you'd cave and give your friend what he needed to move forward. I need Hitch's power to take that extra step, and to do that I need your approval. So, which one of us is really right here Nile? Will you choose to get in my way, or will you let me pass?"

Nile forgot to hide his shock for a moment, though he managed to keep himself together as he considered Armin's words because, as much as he hated it, his resolve was wavering.

He stared at the Colossal Titan for a moment, and his mind reeled back in shock because... it was his friend. The hair was different, he was more youthful, he was maybe a bit less hardened. However, those piercing blue eyes which could cut through hell remained the same.

Collecting himself, Nile closed his mouth in a firm line... and made a decision.