HUMANITY'S STRONGEST?
Chapter 10: Questions
As training progressed, Levi excelled at everything he did. It all came so naturally to him. All except one thing. As they trained with their flexible 'flesh paring' blades to strike the 10cm by 1m weak spot on the nape of a titans neck, Levi was dissatisfied with his results. I'm barely cutting deep enough. He thought, as he sat on the hillside overlooking the training grounds examining the blades. The blades aren't the problem. Why can't I cut any deeper? He stood up and held the blades out in front of him. He then crossed them and swept them apart as he'd been taught. I'm not getting enough power using them like this. There's got to be another way.
A creaking sound distracted him from his thoughts as the wind shifted and the windmill that drew water from the well turned to catch it. Levi's grey eyes widened as an idea popped into his head. That's it! A spinning blade! Just like the ones the sawmills use over in Saddle Creek! Levi again looked down at his blades. I can't do that holding them both like this. He turned the blade in his right hand so that it was facing back. If I can spin counter-clockwise, then these blades will work like a circular saw blade and cut much deeper than I have been! But I'll have to get used to using the ODM gear with one of the controls backwards.
The only way one could use a sharp blade and control the ODM gear simultaneously, was to have the controls for the ODM gear in the hilt of the blades themselves. The blades were designed to be quickly released to fall away and replaced in the heat of battle with new ones that were carried in a scabbard below the gas tanks at the wearer's hips. Each unit came with four sets of replacement blades.
Levi practiced the entire night working the controls in the reverse position. The next morning, out on the training course, he put his idea into practice. He was always the first one to the target. This time, as he approached, he retracted his grapples and started spinning. The blades struck their target with a resounding "Whack!". Levi turned to see the results of his attack. The cut was deeper than anyone else could even hope to achieve! Even Levi was astonished by the effectiveness of the new move. More than one person would get tangled in their lines attempting that special move in the future.
Physical training was not the only thing taught in the Cadet Corps. It included a lot of classroom time, explaining what was known about titans, how to use and maintain the equipment, the history of the military and battle strategies. Levi sat at the very back of the room, but failed at remaining inconspicuous. His questions made him the instigator of many a debate.
The day they were told that the top ten cadets would be the only ones to get into the Military Police, stationed in the capital, the farthest from any battle, was the day that the instructor realized what a headache Levi was going to be. The boy was quite vocal about how backwards and counterintuitive it was to train someone to be the absolute best as killing titans only to place them where they were least likely to even see a titan. The poor instructor pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "This is the military. We don't question the way things are done. We just accept it. Whether or not it is right or wrong is not for us to decide."
"Well, it's still the biggest load of horse shit I've ever heard," Levi stated stubbornly. "Why waste all the time, effort and money training someone to be the best at doing something they're never going to do?! It's bad enough we know so little about titans as it is. We need every skilled fighter we have to beat them back, and the military is putting them as far from the front lines as possible! Am I the only one who can see how fucking stupid that is?"
"The very best soldiers are the ones who should be protecting the King," one cadet chimed in.
"Protect the King from what?" another asked.
"From titans, of course!" the first cadet responded.
"And what about the people?" yet another voice was heard.
"If we lose the king we lose the people!"
"Nonsense! If titans made it all the way in to wall Sheena, through the entire Scouting Regiment and the Garrison Brigade, do you really think a comparative handful of MPs are going to be able to stop them?"
"The MPs are chosen from the best of the best!"
"Do you really think they remain the best, sitting in the capital, drinking and gambling, letting their skills get rusty from lack of use?" Levi calmly asked.
Silence fell over the room for a moment. Then everyone started talking at once taking up one side of the argument or the other. Then someone mentioned that the walls were enough to protect everyone and joining the military was just the thing to do to get out of real work. "No titan could ever breach the walls."
Even over all the noise, Levi's calm voice could be heard, causing everyone to stop and listen. "Think about what you're saying for a moment. Do you really think that those walls will hold up forever? Everything crumbles and decays over time, including the walls."
"Sacrilege!" one cadet cried in protest. "Those walls are a gift from the goddesses!"
"Tch! Idiot! There is only one God, and He did not build those hideous walls!" Levi stated derisively, ignoring the few gasps of horror. "I don't know whether He created titans to punish us for destroying the world He made, or if titans are an abomination of our own creation, and quite frankly I don't care. It's not for me to decide. The only thing I have to know is how to kill those titans so humanity can survive. Regardless of what those damn Wallists believe, nothing lasts forever. Time will crumble the walls and one day titans will break through. We would be fools not to be prepared for that event, because it's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when."
The silence lasted only a moment longer before everyone began debating on this new subject. Levi sat at the back of the room, looking very satisfied at the debate he had started. The instructor, on the other hand, shook his head and groaned.
to be continued…