©WebNovelPlus
With Mangekyo, I Escaped Konoha To Other Worlds [Naruto/AttackOnTitan]-Chapter 26 - 23 Kenny Ackerman
Chapter 26 - 23 Kenny Ackerman
Hey guys. New Chapter.
....
## Seiji's POV
I could feel the strain heavy on my eyes as I continued to search. Dina Fritz, her mind was... resistant.
More resistant to Genjutsu than anyone else. Barring Levi Ackerman, of course. That man was a mystery I hadn't solved yet. One that could wait, however.
Tonight's revelations were too shocking for me to ignore.
Such discrepancies were perfectly capable of throwing everything my meta knowledge of AOT granted me into absolute chaos.
The implications of Bertholdt Hoover dying long before his time were staggering.
It meant at the moment, the Marleyan spies in the Cadet Corps had only Annie and Reiner. Without Bertholdt, it was almost impossible for their mission to continue. The Colossal Titan was the only one who could breach the gates wide enough for other Titans to enter. Meaning the Struggle for Trost arc was over before it even began.
For all I knew, the two might not even be in the Cadet Corps or Paradis Island at all.
Bertholdt's death could trigger such a butterfly effect. If I remembered right, the loss of Marcel and the Jaw Titan was almost enough to send them packing home.
If that happened, the timeline had definitely changed. Perhaps Marley was already on their way to Paradis Island with large troops.
It wasn't enough reason to panic, but just this scenario among many was enough to throw my knowledge into disarray. Who knows if there were more complications I didn't plan for?
How?
Why?
Yet it was a question I had no answers to. The only thing I could deduce was the fact that Future Eren chose not to influence the past.
But that shouldn't be possible. It had been four years since the Fall of Wall Maria.
Four years later, I arrived. Logically speaking, my butterfly effect should reach forward in time, not backwards.
In my plans, I should obtain the true power of the Titans in six months. That was how much time I had before the cooldown of the Interdimensional Gateway. If I succeeded, I would change the future of Paradis Island permanently.
The rumbling wouldn't happen. The power of the Titans would disappear from the world. The people trapped as Titans would be free.
The loss of Titans would make Marley instantly crumble without them, and all the other nations would gang up against them for the years of servitude.
It was the future I saw... twenty minutes ago. Now, I was seeing something else entirely.
For a moment, I pondered two scenarios. One, I had found myself in an alternate reality, quite different from the original Attack on Titan where for some reason, Future Eren didn't exist.
Or two, my active appearance had caused a butterfly effect so big that it could affect the past. I wasn't sure how the latter was possible to begin with, as something just didn't add up.
So, I sought to find out what.
Using my Sharingan, I prowled through the reaches of her mind. Moving from the moment she regained her humanity to the time she spent in the following four years in search of possible answers.
I discovered in the four years following Wall Maria's fall, Dina had done the same thing Grisha did at the beginning. Search and scour to uncover the holder of the Founding Titan.
To hunt down the king, and steal his power.
Her status as an Eldian restorationist hadn't changed. Unfortunately, the woman wasn't as gifted as Grisha who was a qualified doctor. Hence, buddying up with the rich and powerful in that way wasn't an option.
Unless she planned to sell herself, which might not grant any decent results. In the time that followed, Dina Fritz got herself involved in the underworld, learned all she could from whoever would share knowledge with her.
All while hiding her face to make sure she wasn't caught.
Eventually, she learned that the King sitting on the throne was a fake. And learned not too long after that the true rulers were the Reiss Family who changed their names many years ago.
Learning that only one man was left alive after a tragic fire incident, Dina Fritz had concluded that as the last member of royal blood, the holder of the Founding Titan must be Rod Reiss.
Investigating further, the Royal Government soon discovered someone was snooping where they shouldn't and set up a lure.
One which she readily walked into.
Tonight was supposed to achieve two goals.
One, confirm if this Rod Reiss was truly the holder of the Founder. Two, depending on the answer, either eat him and gain the Founding Titan to achieve her goal or kill him to avoid having her information leaked.
Not once before the meeting at the Reiss Chapel did she think it was a fake being used to lure her in. Because she had seen the fake many times posing as the real Rod Reiss, she concluded he was being used to make the bait all the more realistic.
It was surprising that the person she was sure was Rod was a fake. Meaning, this one was a long-time decoy operation. Placed even before she began investigating the Reiss family.
Which in itself was odd. To me at least, as I had no recollection of something similar happening in the anime.
Or is it just like I feared? Another change in the timeline. Nevertheless, something was definitely wrong.
*That's enough. I'm not gonna find anything else from her,* I thought as I dispelled the Genjutsu. Aside from just confirming her existence and Bertholdt's death, nothing useful had come out of—
*T-tring...*
*Huh?* I stopped, frozen in place as my red eyes looked out the window.
The quiet of the night was ruined by a sound I was all too familiar with. ODM grappling cables.
*More, huh?*
It seemed that the operation still had backup.
---
## Kenny's Squad POV
*Crash!*
Inside the Reiss Chapel, the sound of shattering glass broke the silence of night as two figures swung into the building.
Upon landing, the sound of cocking guns followed as they aimed instantly, eyes scanning the vicinity to lock onto a target for fire.
What greeted them was silence.
Under the dim lighting, their faces were revealed. A man and a woman, each wearing the special gear designated for human battle instead of the standard Military Maneuver gear.
Their identities were clear at a glance. Members of the Anti-Personnel Control Squad.
A few seconds later, they lowered their weapons upon confirming the area was clear.
"It's clear."
Outside, a blonde-haired female turned to her commanding officer and reported.
"Hmm. No one inside?"
"As far as the upper chapel, no."
Hearing this, Kenny narrowed his eyebrows. "Tsk... gone already, huh?"
The moment he and his squad arrived outside the Reiss Chapel, the first thing they saw were corpses.
From afar, he could see they all died in the same way—each with a blade lodged in their skulls. He had judged that either the enemy was inside or the place had already been rigged to explode.
So he sent two soldiers to test the waters. No one was inside, meaning there were now two options.
One, the enemy had already left. The second being they were currently hiding in the underground caverns below the chapel. Neither was good news. As regardless, they would have to search the caverns either way.
If it was the second option, then they would be going into a fight blind. The first meant the council wouldn't be happy at the overwhelming failure of this operation. Either way, he was definitely not going to rest anytime soon.
*Quite an interesting enemy we have here. One that's giving me a headache.*
"Captain."
The voice of his second in command pulled him out of his reverie.
"What do we do now?" Caven asked.
In response, the middle-aged man let out an annoyed snort as he adjusted his fedora hat.
"Whaddya think?" he uttered, his face turning serious. "Head on down and see if any rodents are hiding underground. If not, all well and good. If they are, we'll just have to exterminate 'em."
He said as he headed towards the door.
"Half of you stay up here and keep a lookout. The other half's with me."
Caven watched him leave without responding. Turning around, she began giving instructions.
Entering the chapel, Kenny moved towards the hatch leading to the basement caverns.
"I'm only gonna say this once," the Ackerman said to his team as he cocked his gun. "We don't know who the enemy is or how many they are. If they're down there, they've had more time to conceal themselves. Prepare for anything."
*Creak!*
The hidden door was opened. The first thing that came into sight was a staircase leading downwards with another door at the very end.
Kenny led six of his best soldiers down the staircase, their footsteps echoing in the confined space. The air grew colder as they descended, the weight of stone and earth pressing in from all sides.
*Dammit! I'm getting that feeling again.*
As they advanced, Kenny's brows furrowed deeper. His instincts on high alert. It was a feeling he knew all too well. One that had followed him since the day of his awakening.
And the moment he took a step into the staircase, he knew.
*Something's off.*
The thought rooted firm into his mind immediately. It wasn't a mistake, it couldn't be. This same feeling had saved his life many times whenever he listened to it.
Normally speaking, he should listen. However, the problem lay in the fact that this time, he didn't understand what it was telling him.
It wasn't the feeling of imminent danger he was well versed with. Wasn't one of those sense of crisis that would strike like a thunderbolt.
It wasn't a suggestive feeling either. One that usually came when he forgot or overlooked something. It was an entirely new feeling. One he couldn't quite make heads or tails from. Making it all the more frustrating. He wasn't in any danger, so what exactly was this feeling for?
His thoughts spiraled as they reached the door. Eyes narrowing, he reached out to hold the knob.
Still no sense of imminent crisis, yet the feeling persisted.
*Why in hell am I—*
*Bang! Bang!*
His thoughts halted and his hand froze.
He wasn't alone. The soldiers with him all looked back immediately at the entrance they just came through. From outside, they could hear the sound of gunshots breaking the night silence.
Someone fired a bullet. Meaning, enemies had appeared. Instantly, Kenny's face darkened as he understood what he had been feeling all along.
"We've been had."
All eyes turned back to the entrance of the hidden passage, waiting. The silence that followed was heavy, oppressive.
Then came the sound of hurried footsteps. A soldier appeared at the top of the stairs, his face filled with urgency and panic.
"Captain! We're under—"
*SQUELCH!*
His voice halted.
A sleek metal object whistled through the air, embedding itself in the soldier's forehead with a sickening squelch. The man's words died in his throat as he toppled forward, tumbling down the stairs until his body came to rest at their feet.
Kenny stared at the strange knife-like weapon protruding from the dead soldier's skull, his eyes narrowing. It wasn't like any blade he'd seen before.
Footsteps echoed from above, measured and unhurried. A young man appeared at the entrance, casually stepping over the threshold and into their line of sight. His dark hair framed a youthful face, but his eyes—deep red with strange black markings—were anything but young. They held the cold calculation of a seasoned killer.
The implication was clear. If this lone figure was walking so calmly toward them, and they could hear no other sounds of combat...
"Hello," the young man said, his voice perfectly cordial, as if greeting acquaintances at a social gathering rather than standing over a fresh corpse.
"Judging by your hat, you must be Kenny."
Kenny's response was instant—he fired his gun. The other five men followed suit, the narrow passageway erupting with gunfire and acrid smoke.
In response to the rain of bullets, the young man didn't flinch. Seiji didn't dodge or attempt to move. Instead, translucent black energy materialized around him, forming a skeletal ribcage. The bullets struck this shield and ricocheted away, embedding themselves in the walls and ceiling.
*Sigh. I really need to get a technique that easily defends against projectiles. Dodging is too much of a drag, and until I get a healing factor, Susanoo is overkill.*
"Bullets?" Seiji said, his voice carrying easily over the gunfire. "Can't say I'm not disappointed. I was a fan once. Though I guess that at my current level, it is unrealistic to expect more than what Levi showed."
Seiji muttered, his eyes already turned into Mangekyo as he clasped his hands together.
Kenny barely registered what the youth before him was saying. His attention was too focused on what looked to be a skeletal manifestation around him.
*Is that... a Titan form?* Seeing this, the first thing Kenny thought of was Uri Reiss and the Founding Titan in the possession of the royal family.
Though he quickly caught on to something else.
*Levi? What does that—* His thought cut short as the ground beneath him shifted.
Two hands suddenly burst out of the floor, grabbing onto Kenny's legs before the man could react.
"What in the—"
*Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu.*
In a split second, Kenny was pulled downwards, swallowed by the earth under everyone's frightened gazes.
"C-Captain!"
"Dammit! What just happened?"
"He just—"
"I'd worry less about your Captain right now if I were you." Seiji's voice cut through their panic. "Don't worry. He'll be fine. I need him alive, after all."
Seiji's hands formed new signs in rapid succession. "You all, not so much."
"Fire Style," he announced calmly, completing the seals. From within the protection of his Susanoo, a stream of fire spewed from his mouth.
*Great Fireball Jutsu.*
In an instant, the stairway was engulfed with flames.