Xavi Inocencio

A self-satisfied grin sits almost permanently on Xavi's face, whatever is happening around him. Early in his teens he keeps his curly hair cropped and favors a white shirt with an upturned collar, long trousers cinched by a scarf, and high boots. The years stretch him into a tall young man, lean but powerfully built; his hair loses its curl, and the lower back of his head darkens noticeably in color.

Talent and intellect come easily to Xavi; kindness does not. As a boy he is a vicious bully who savors hurting Kuklo and openly brags about destroying the slave's right eye. He studies the people around him for weaknesses to exploit, manipulates his peers without remorse, and treats most events as beneath his concern, meeting them with unshakable calm.

Two cracks run through the facade. He genuinely cherishes Sharle and watches over her in his own controlling way, and his loudly proclaimed fearlessness toward Titans is a lie: the first time one looms over him, he freezes. For all his arrogance, Xavi can recognize real skill in others and offers respect, though only to those he decides have earned it.

Dario Inocencio grooms his son from childhood to one day lead the military behind the Walls, and buys the boy a living training dummy: Kuklo, an enslaved child whose birth from a Titan-regurgitated corpse convinced people he was the creature's son. For two years Xavi beats him nearly every day, inviting classmates to watch him fight the so-called Titan's offspring. When the Titan Cult storms the family estate and murders Dario in his bed, Xavi cuts down cultists in a grieving rage and saves Sharle, then spots the freed Kuklo and concludes the slave orchestrated the assault. His blade ruins Kuklo's right eye before a knee to the head knocks Xavi out cold, and Kuklo escapes with Sharle.

Xavi feeds the Military Police a false account naming Kuklo as the raid's ringleader and his father's killer, then enters the Training Corps while steering the family company from a distance. Perfect marks draw the eye of Captain Gloria Bernhart, who pulls him into the Military Police two years early. He signs the company over to its director, learns Sharle has been sighted in the Industrial City, and accepts a covert assignment from Gloria: infiltrate the Dissidence Movement there and dismantle it, fully aware he is a pawn with an assassin waiting should he fail.

The staged uprising turns bloody. Xavi kills Matteus, an associate inside the movement who turns on him, with his agent Fuchs's timely help, cuts down dissidents at Xenophon's workshop, and discovers to his shock that Kuklo lives and has just rescued Sharle. Their duel ends with Kuklo bleeding into a river and Sharle brought home. Promoted into Matteus's old post of team leader, Xavi parades his sister through high society until a would-be suitor's assault drives her to flee again.

When Gloria grants the Survey Corps three months to prove a new anti-Titan device, Xavi volunteers as the Military Police's monitor, stunning Kuklo, Cardina, and Sharle with his arrival. He passes the balance apparatus effortlessly on his first attempt, quietly expects the Corps to fail, yet grudgingly helps expose equipment saboteurs at Sharle's request, reminding Kuklo afterward that the favor now runs in reverse. On the expedition itself he pressures Captain Carlo Pikale into launching despite bad weather, rides ahead alone against orders, and stumbles onto a Titan mid-feed, freezing exactly as he always swore he never would.

Deeper in the forest he ambushes Kuklo with stolen maneuvering gear, intent on settling their feud where no witness can speak of it. The enormous Titan called Ogre interrupts the duel, and Kuklo shoves Xavi clear at the cost of being seized himself. Xavi starts to withdraw, then turns back, blinds Ogre with one strike, and throws Kuklo the iron bamboo sword taken from their earlier fight; together they land the killing blow. His childhood vow to defeat a Titan fulfilled, Xavi lets his hatred go, promises an honest report on the Corps' equipment, and gives his blessing for Kuklo to marry Sharle. A posthumous letter from Gloria later exposes Bauduin Bernhart, the Military Police vice commander and her own uncle, as the schemer behind her death; Xavi honors her last request and helps assemble the case that puts the man and his allies behind bars.