It begins.
The first of Adam's spawn, the Third living Angel we have encountered, finally arrived in the fortress city of Hakone, now known as Tokyo-3. It was the first true battlefield test of the Evangelion, however imperfect the conditions may have been. And though the pilot proved somewhat… lacking, the soul within more than made up for the pilot's failures. I am sure that Ikari, the both of them, are proud.
We, humanity, will endure. We, SEELE, will triumph. And I will survive to see that day, no matter how much more of my body I must replace. Soon. Soon.
- From the personal journals of Lorenz Kihl, March 26th, 2015
48th Parallel, December 31st, 2016
"Alright, Lilith," Daniel said firmly as he linked his soul to Suriel and the others in command within the pale titan, "whenever you're ready."
"Acknowledged. This is going to feel… strange. Be prepared." he heard Suriel reply as he looked out over the vast array of foes that marched towards them, nearly fully within the trap that they had laid.
There were certainly more than before, Daniel mused as he felt Lilith building up its power. The most prominent additions were a sixth Ramiel and a third Ptahiel, but a query to the Valhalla System told him that the Angel's ranks had swelled by nearly 500 members.
'Well, this is going to be a little more interesting. I'm sure Asuka will appreciate the extra kill count if nothing else.' he thought with a slight grin that he could feel mirrored through his link to Asuka.
He felt a wave of somewhat prickly, almost cold energy wash over the space above him and the others, and the Angels paused in their tracks, some looking around themselves in confusion, more than a few Zeruels unspooling their cloth-like limbs. Lilith's AT Fields were nullifying the Angels', just as planned.
"Nullification complete," Kadmonel said, his words being carried into orbit as well. "
Cataphract, you are clear to fire on the Ramiels."
"Good copy." he heard the voice of the
Cataphract's comm officer reply even without a screen. "Targeting parameters are being adjusted to account for the extra target, so bombardment will be delayed by 30 seconds."
As Kadmonel acknowledged, Asuka looked through a magnifier at Azazel, still out in the distance. "I wonder if Lilith managed to punch through Azazel's AT Fields. It'd certainly make this a lot easier."
"I managed to break down a great number of its fields," Kadmonel replied, causing Asuka to jump slightly in her seat. "But I did not clear them all away. It will survive this bombardment."
"Ah, phooey," Asuka grumbled. "I was hoping-"
Her next words were swept away as Azazel disappeared in a flash of light. As the pilots blinked their vision back, their eyes widened, and there were more than a few fearful gasps, as Azazel loomed over them, the face of who they were told was Lorenz Kihl leering down at them.
"Perish." was the only word it said, the sound rippling through the pilot's bones as it raised a glowing, scythe-like arm to sweep over them.
As the arm swung, the pilots hastily setting up the best defenses they could, the massive blade of Lilith's weapon intercepted it, a ringing nose rippling through the air as it used its AT Fields to shove Azazel back.
In response, the Angel flew over them, slamming into Lilith and beginning to send it tumbling as they both disappeared in another flash, reappearing kilometers away to the left far beyond any reinforcements from either side. In a moment, the two flashed again, and suddenly they were closer to the Angel's right flank as Lilith batted away the bladed tail of Azazel, firing a massive prismatic beam from its brow that charred the flesh of its opponent for brief moments before the skin bubbled and healed.
As they reappeared the second time, the sky grew brighter, and a keening roar filled the air as the briefest flashes of the
Cataphract's attack came into view before slamming down on the Ramiels. In the explosions, they could almost see some of them shatter completely, their wails reminding Shinji and Rei of the last time they had faced off against these creatures' predecessor.
However, before the barrage ended, one AT Field, then another, sprang to life, the explosions obscuring the Ramiel's forms as they waited with bated breath.
The smoke cleared, showing the forms of the remaining two Ramiels. One was charred and blacked, several prominent, deep cracks running across its surface. The other, however, was nearly unscathed, a few superficial cracks radiating out from the top of its octahedral shape.
And, Daniel noted with mounting dread, the Angels below and around them began to turn and march towards the fight between Azazel and Lilith as the pale titans clashed. Lilith deflected another blow from Azazel's claws, batting one of the cannons into the air as it fired a brilliant red beam that howled as it cut through the air for terrible seconds, narrowly missing one of the Ramiel's as they began to fire at Lilith.
"We need to lock them down now!" Mari said with no small amount of alarm as Unit-08 stepped forward. "Lilly's gonna be in a worse position than we could ever be!"
Daniel set his jaw as his swordspear flowed into existence in Unit-00's hands, a sphere of space rippling above its tip as the air around the lines that Daniel had marked the day before began to ripple as well, the tops of the walls around the circular 'ribs' beginning to bend into domes above the Angels within their bounds.
"This will get done quickly if we all work together," Daniel said to the pilots through his links to their souls.
"Help me!"
The sphere of space rippled more and more quickly, the pilots lending their aid as two of the Ptahiels shot up out of the cage's boundaries and raced towards them, weaving through the air as prismatic rams rippled to life at the front of their bodies.
"AT Fields! Now!" Shinji said, Daniel thankful for his warning as his focus became consumed by making sure the Expression of the Spatial Cage, as it had been called, didn't go wildly out of control.
Several of the pilots threw their hands out, layering their AT Fields as best they could as the Ptahiels slammed into the barriers, bouncing off as the Ramiels, along with several dozen Zeruels and Turiels, rose from the field as well.
Daniel kept his focus on the Expression, the Frames almost seeming to have a life of their own as he struggled to maintain the boundaries he'd set on the space he'd marked. It was close…
The sphere at the end of Daniel's swordspear shattered, and the space of the Cage along with it, shutting in most, and even tearing apart some of, the Angels trapped within its bounds as Daniel released a heavy breath he didn't even know he was holding.
The Ptahiels wheeled away, seeming intent on guarding the Ramiels now that their attack failed, leaving the Evas with a moment to take stock of their situation.
"How many are in there, do you think?" Musashi said as he readied his NuPallet Rifle.
"Honestly… probably less than we'd hoped for," Daniel replied. "With how they were beginning to move towards Lilith, I'm sure there's at least one or two thousand more out there than we were expecting."
He paused for a moment as he felt the presence of Lilith's AT Field smothering effect remain even as it became locked in combat. "And, if nothing else, we won't be dealing with multiple AT Fields from a single Angel. If anything, they'll only be able to put up one, if that."
"Then that's one or two thousand more that we get to take down rather easily before the other Angels find out they can get out through the gates Daniel set up within them," Rei replied. "I would recommend we waste no more time and engage the Angels."
Daniel nodded. "You said what I'm thinking, Rei," he said with a smile as he began to walk forward, pausing for a moment to turn and look at the rest of the Evas.
"Toji, Hikari, hang back with the AU and EU pilots to provide air coverage for us. If you can take down a Ptahiel, focus it down and do it." he began, and the noted Evas paused as they began to scan for a hill they could use. "Asuka, Shinji, and I will begin charging into their right side with the Japanese pilots. Mari, Mana, and Mayumi, lead the Arabic and Nordic Evas past us and make a wall. Cut the line in two and don't let anything across, and we'll link up when you do."
"Rei, Kaworu, lead the American and Russian pilots to the left side of the cage. Anything problematic that could loop around and surprise us needs to run into you." he paused as he swept his gaze across all of the Evas and the screens that held the pilots' faces. "
Don't get caught alone or in small groups if you can help it. Stick as close to the edges of this army as you can."
As he heard the others complying, their Evas beginning to move out, Daniel took a deep breath before he turned, and faced what was, by all rights, the end of the world. "Alright, ladies and gents. Ride to ruin, and the world's ending!
Charge!"
With that, he spurred Unit-00 into a run that turned into a sprint, the others that were with him joining him only moments later.
. . .
It was a glorious moment as over a dozen Evangelions, bastions of humanity, began to charge the comparatively thin, long line of Angels that still numbered well over one and a half thousand on the right of the Cage, weapons at the ready as they naturally formed into a pair of spearhead formations. Daniel felt the rumbling of the others behind him as he formed the tip of the spear, his crystalline swordspear gleaming in the sun as the Angels began to turn towards them. Already, the Japanese Evas, and the Arabic and Nordic Evas behind them and to their right, were firing their NuPallet Rifles, raking lines of fire through the front of the Angels and laying one after another low.
The distance they crossed as they stepped onto the expanse of Corite was not without challenge, as the eyes of dozens, if not hundreds of Sachiels began to flash at them, the explosive pellets they hurled forward batted away by AT Fields or by more physical shields of gemstone, metal, or sound.
Finally, Asuka and Musashi, brash as they were, leaped into the air as they collided with the line, Lancium-plated Glaives, and bayonets at the end of rifles alongside Interfaced weaponry tearing through the lines as the Japanese contingent began to lay about themselves, wading in as they swiped and shot at their enemies around them.
Daniel caught Mari and her company, still strafing the Angels that began to surround them as they raced past them, from the corner of his eye as he felt Nynrya reveal herself, the twin hooked blades flashing to life as they bisected an unsuspecting Sachiel behind him.
The press of battle, even with the addition of rifles and Interfacing and Angelic powers flaring to life around him, called out to him in a way that it hadn't for untold millennia, battlefields ancient and far in the future springing to mind as quickly as they were disregarded as Daniel sent a chain of crystals spiraling through the Israfels that he faced, maiming several Sachiels as he batted away the darting, jabbing spikes of the Sachiels and the biting claws of the Israfels.
He caught one spike in the leg, gritting his teeth against the pain as he swiped down and shattered it. He found the Sachiel responsible stumbling back as he manifested a spiky gemstone and shoved it into the offender's chest, the satisfying sound of a cracking core becoming more and more normal to him as he confirmed the kill and continued on to the next Angel.
He didn't know how long it went on like this, slashing and blasting with gemstones, consuming the cores of Angels with stars and black holes as he wrapped himself in a seemingly impenetrable cloak of a nebula, until he came upon a small cluster of Baraquiels that turned to face him, several Bardiels scattered within their ranks scuttling forward, a few jumping back as Daniel waved his swordspear warningly. Everything else in the press glanced off of his cloak or his AT Field as he kept his focus on the group.
'Damn. Just what I needed.' he thought as Nynrya helped him clear the space around him, wincing slightly as Lilith directed another of Azazel's Duotron Cannon shots into the line of Angels in front of him, his link to the other pilots letting him know no one was hurt even as an explosion bloomed behind his foes.
'The two things I always tripped up on.'
The Baraquiels, scaled in grays and blacks and with electricity arcing from their slightly open jaws, held back as Unit-00 whipped off the nebula cloak and tossed it to the ground, the cloud spreading towards their feet as their electricity seemed drawn to the vibrant ground cover. The Bardiels, on the other hand, wasted no time leaping into the air at him, jaws slavering wildly as he brought his swordspear up to catch the leading one of them as they fell upon him.
The lead Bardiel's arc through the air carried him right into the waiting blade, the beast sliding to a stop on the crossguard with a wild screech and a gout of LCL as Unit-00 slammed it into two of its companions with no small amount of effort, the other two Bardiel's tumbling to the sides as their comrade went limp on the blade with a hollow, ringing crack before he threw it off.
One of the Baraquiels, seemingly finally gaining the courage to try at something, stepped forward as it opened its mouth and roared, the electricity arcing between its teeth intensifying before a cracking, thick bolt of lightning screamed towards him, even as the former cloak drew much of its strength towards it.
To Daniel, his senses nearing the Third Peak, the electricity that seemed aimed at his side as he slashed through one of the other Bardiel's seemed to only be advancing a few meters every second. Even still, it would be close as a pill of vibrant yellow crystal came into existence, an AT Field beginning to bloom from it.
Daniel doubted the Expression that he spun could intercept it fully, or that Nynrya, her blades buried in a Sachiel that had stuck one of its spears in his back, could deflect it in time. He braced for the familiar impact.
"Shinji! I think it's time to play thunderstruck!" he heard Asuka say, the excitement in her voice almost overflowing.
"Got it!" Shinji replied, and Daniel remembered the codeword they had established for Asuka's rather spectacular attack.
Daniel took the (thankfully blunted) attack as best he could, taking a step to the side as he looked over at Shinji and Asuka, in the thick of things with Musashi, Keita, and Kotone. Asuka began to push past the group of Angels that stood in her way, red lightning crackling across Unit-02's body as it began to glow more and more, the lightning blasting away any who dared try and touch her.
'Man,' Daniel got quite clearly from his link to Asuka,
'I really hope I can nail changing back after I'm done.'
With that thought, Unit-02's body
became electricity, flying towards Unit-01's open hand. Unit-01 caught the massive, crimson lightning bolt, swinging it around towards Daniel's group of Baraquiels. As he did, the sound the lightning made became sharper, more distinct, and the thunder could be seen now, semi-transparent waves that rippled off of Unit-02's voltaic body.
And as Shinji let go, Daniel heard one more thought from Asuka.
'Look at me, Angels! I AM THE LIGHTNING NOW!'
Asuka streaked past him, slamming into one of the Baraquiels and piercing
through it, the thunderclap of the strike rippling out and slamming into the other Angels near it as Asuka continued on, bouncing from point to point as the thunder cleared the space around it, wounding and even killing those Angels unfortunate enough to be in its path.
Daniel fell back a little way to Shinji's side as Asuka began to loop back around. "So, how many times did you two practice that one?" he said with a wry grin even as he kept an eye on the now far more cautious Angels.
Shinji chuckled as he turned, putting Unit-01 back to back with Unit-00 and leveling the Lance of Longinus at their advancing foes. "Longer than I care to admit. How are you holding up?"
"I'm alright. Nothing the self-repair systems can't handle. And, if nothing else, at least Asuka is having fun." Daniel replied. "Got an eye on our national kids?"
Shinji glanced over at the trio of Japanese Evas that were now a little ways away, backs to each other as they handled their glaives and rifles as best they could, clearing a circle around them as they began to stand atop the bodies of those Angels they had dissected. "It looks like they're doing well for now."
"They'll be doing better if we're together," Daniel said as a star flashed out of Unit-00's hand and into the Bardiel charging him, the impact sending it sprawling to the ground. "Let's link up."
"Got it," Shinji replied as levelly as he could manage, and the two Evas slowly made their way over to the others, hacking and slashing their way through Angels that didn't seem to have the sense to stay down.
Daniel opened a comm channel to the three Japanese Evas as they came together. "How goes it?" he said levelly as he intercepted a slash meant for who he thought was Keita.
Musashi sighed quietly as he blocked a strike from an Israfel component, shoving it back as he cut deep into a Sachiel with the bayonet blade of his rifle. "I'll be honest, I would prefer to not almost lose a limb every few seconds. Other than that, I think we're doing just fine."
Daniel nodded, looking up… and seeing the flight of Zeruels coming towards them, 6 in all, the other Angels seeming to instinctively clear space for them as they slowed to a stop and began to approach, cloth-like arms flapping in the wind.
Even those Angels closest to the Evas backed away slowly, and the Evas turned to face them as the mighty Angels began to drift slowly apart into a semicircle, seemingly intent on crushing them within the vice that they were making.
Daniel, brave as he was in the face of the familiar faces, still wasn't spared a moment of hesitation before he spoke. "Alright. If nothing else, it seems these things like to work by themselves. I guess there's a pecking order to these things."
"A real welcome change to the sims, I'd say," Keita said, clearly grateful for the fact as he leveled his rifle at a Zeruel off to their left. "We need to strike hard and strike quickly while they stall."
"It'd certainly be nice to break them up, though." Suzunami piped up. "Even one of these by itself is a real pain."
Daniel was silent for a moment before humming quietly, then Shinji piped back up. "Maybe you could bend space, Daniel? Even if you don't break it… tangling it, I guess, would help."
"Tangling…" Daniel said quietly, his brow furrowing slightly as his mind began to race with an idea.
Before he could speak further, three of the Zeruel's eyes flashed, their beams meeting raised AT Fields as Daniel considered what he was about to do.
'Risky, not really done before, but… it's better than nothing against Zeruel.'
His focus was broken for a moment as Asuka, still living lightning, burst out of the side of one of the Zeruels, the beams pausing almost in shock as Unit-02 became an Evangelion again, tripping and tumbling as it rolled to a stop in front of them, Asuka back up in a second with a massive sword in Unit-02's hands raised towards one of the Zeruels in the center. "Wow," she said as a comm panel of her face appeared, her hair somewhat frazzled and her eyes and grin still wide as a facsimile of her Unit's horns graced her brow. "That was…"
The Zeruel's barrage began again, Asuka pausing as she threw up her AT Field to support the others. "Exciting." she finished with a mutter, her smile vanishing.
"I'm sure, Jünger. Cover me." Daniel said calmly as his AT Field dropped, and he focused on the space that surrounded them, the ground covered in what seemed to be inactive Corite.
Taking a deep breath as the Frames for his Expression finished forming, he pulled, and the ground beneath them seemed to spiral in a strip up into the air, the view distorting as they ascended with the Zeruels now seemingly distant from each other on the coil.
Then, Daniel focused on the gaps between the Zeruels, now flailing their cloth-like arms around themselves in apparent distress as if they could hit whatever attack came next, and twisted them, the ground the Angels floated upon seeming to spin around and around like mad tiles, the spinning only slowing after many moments.
"What… is that?" Keita said, his eyes wide with wonder even as he took a breath, the others also taking advantage of the moment of calm.
"Well, the more you twist space up, the greater the distance they have to traverse," Daniel replied. "They may still seem only meters apart at a glance, but it'll be a good while before we deal with them."
"Good." Asuka replied, a sure smile on her face as she looked down the 'hill' that spiraled down from their position at the apex. "And we even have one for all of us to kill waiting for us… down there, I guess. Compared to last time we fought him, this is going to be a cakewalk."
"So it would seem," Shinji said, his jaw set in determination as he regarded the Zeruel from behind the gleaming point of the Lance of Longinus. "Even still, let's not get too carried away."
With that, they began to advance, weapons at the ready as they advanced on the first of the once terrifying monsters of the past.
. . .
Rei Ayanami felt the rumble of a slamming, needling tendril from Hadraniel as she dodged aside in time, dancing through the forest that followed after it as she launched a shard of multi-hued glass flying towards the core that rested like a rotund bell between its spindly, wire-like legs. It splashed into the liquid LCL sphere, disappearing with a ripple as Rei continued to move.
'Likely too slow.' she noted.
'I shall have to adjust my velocity. Perhaps some more time against this type of Angel would have been prudent.'
But there was little time for the could have beens as she dodged again, the needle ripping through her open hand as she winced in pain, grateful that such a wound would not last. With a thought, she activated another cluster of blinder mines, panes of glass connected to Inscribed sheets of metal rising into the air, flying towards several Angels, driving unerringly towards whatever Rei, Asuka, and Mari recognized as faces and clamping down on them, dozens of Angels beginning to stumble blindly, thrashing out and becoming easy targets for Rei and the others to pick off, Rei watching Orien score a particularly spectacular kill as he used his ribbon whip, strengthened by his AT Field, to slice through several Sachiels in succession.
Even still, the Hadraniel, joined by another, proved to be quite literally above the influence of the mines as they continued to press on her and Howard, who dodged away from the other side of the Angel before becoming entangled with Saveli and Galina and another group of Angels. "Kaworu, I would request your assistance in dealing with these Hadraniel-type Angels," she said levelly, aiming a glowing glasswork rifle at the first Hadraniel's core, Howard following her lead as they peppered the orb with fire.
"I am on my way," Kaworu replied, and Rei could hear the slight smile in his voice as she glanced over at Unit-06 flying into the air impossibly quickly, a black, liquid rune flowing into existence behind him from his back and freezing him in place in the air.
"Ms. Vincennes," Kaworu said, "would you be willing and able to assist me in eliminating these Hadraniel-types?"
"Certainly." Marie replied as she finished sending a spear of explosive pressure through the rippling 'flesh' of an Azariel type, a muffled crack preceding its body of LCL crashing to the ground as she turned. "Need me to crack their cores for you?"
"No. Simply to help me clear the way for Rei to do so." Kaworu replied as he leveled his copy of the Spear of Cassius at one of the Hadraniels. "Dispelling this LCL shielding should, I hope, not prove difficult for the two of us."
"You grab one, I'll grab another," Marie replied as she dashed away towards Rei, her first step leaving an explosion that sent those Angels that approached her flying.
"Done," Kaworu said, the tip of the Spear bubbling before a glob of ink shot out of it, sinking into the depths of the Hadraniel's LCL shielding before a rune glowed with prismatic light. Then, the rune vanished, along with a significant portion of the LCL, in a massive explosion, half of the jagged, misshapen thing that seemed to pass for a core in these Angels revealed to Rei's waiting rifle.
Rei's rifle sounded like a cascade of shattering glass as it fired, the rounds screaming into the core and shattering it with a burst of light. She turned her focus to the other as Marie's attack slammed into the sphere of LCL, sending it raining on the world around them as she lined up her shot.
She noticed the 'head' of the Angel, a strange, clock-like thing, swirling into a void out of the corner of her sight, and the glow at her feet, just too late. As she dodged back, the massive pillar of energy erupted, and her Unit's legs disappeared in a flash of pain that Rei couldn't stifle a pained shout at.
She hit the ground on her back, and she could immediately feel Kaworu's alarm. "Rei!" he shouted, flying towards her as several flowing runes flew out from him, slamming into the ground around her and causing several Angels that rushed towards her prone form to slam into barriers of Metos. "They won't hold for long! Marie, get to her position and cover her!"
"I have an idea, Kaworu," Rei said through deep breaths as she rode waves of pain. "Wait just a moment before you risk yourselves for me. Consolidate yourselves first to ensure we do not get isolated."
She could feel Kaworu's hesitation as she began to focus on an Expression she'd been considering for some time now. There was, it seemed, no better time to explore the newest Facet of her Aspect Core.
A half dozen glass halberds, vibrant in their many colors, flowed into existence in the air around her body, points in the air as Rei fed Frames into a rather novel, to her at least, Expression.
The Angels paused, then began to stumble back as images, reflections of Unit-05 rippled into existence, the ghosts wielding the halberds stepping forward as their very real weapons began to slam into AT Fields and unprotected flesh and armor.
For what time it bought her, however, Rei still had to contend with the rather inconvenient truth that she had no legs. "Command," she said as calmly as she could while she opened a channel, "I do not think the auto-repair system within the Frame Plug will be able to restore my mobility in a reasonable timeframe. What are my orders?"
. . .
Misato felt dread needling through her gut as she considered Rei's question. She wasn't going to let anyone die today. Not even if Lilith could keep their souls from Azazel's predations. Too much rested on having every pilot they could get working out there.
"Sit tight for right now, Rei. We'll think of something," she replied. "Kaworu, bring the other pilots into a defensive formation around Rei. Don't lose track of each other and end up easy pickings."
"Yes, ma'am." was Kaworu's only reply to her as he began to contact the other Evas.
Misato looked over at Ritsuko. "I'm guessing you're up to date on the workings of the Frame Plugs?" she asked quietly under the familiar chatter and noise of a Central Dogma in the midst of an operation.
Ritsuko nodded. "Of course. Anything that touches the Frame Plugs goes through my desk. The auto-repair system may be new, but I got to know it back to front before it got installed."
"Is there any way we could… overclock the system? Make it so that her Unit's legs grow back quickly?"
Ritsuko shook her head with a slight grimace. "We'd need the LCL for it. LCL that mostly goes into the formation of the Eva. Unless…"
She paused for a moment, looking back out at the main screen that showed all of the views of the Evangelions. And the Angels that they were fighting. "There's another source," she said, a gleam lighting up in her eyes.
Misato looked at Ritsuko with no small amount of puzzlement. "Enlighten me, Ritsky."
"The Azariel-type Angel's bodies are made up entirely of LCL. The Hadraniel-type's shielding around their cores is as well, to say nothing of what's flowing inside of the other Angels. With how many they've killed, they're practically swimming in it almost."
"So why aren't the systems using it?" Misato asked archly.
"We've locked them to only using LCL that reads from within the Eva itself to ensure they won't be contaminated by something we're not expecting." Ritsuko took a step towards the edge of the command tower, looking down at First Lieutenant Agano. "Agano, I need you to access the Evangelion auto-repair system and allow it to accept all sources of LCL for use!" she shouted.
"Yes, ma'am!" Agano replied, her fingers flying across the keyboard as she worked as quickly as she could.
"How long will that take?" Misato asked, worry still tinging her voice even as relief at a solution dueled with it.
"Hopefully not much longer than a few minutes," Ritsuko admitted. "We made most of these programs to be easily added on to or modified."
Misato nodded. "Alright," she said as she unmuted the comm panel to Rei. "Rei! Get ready to get your legs back soon. Once you're back on your feet, get out of there!"
"Yes, ma'am," Rei replied levelly.
. . .
Orien glanced to his side as he took an AT Field-powered leap into the circle of shields that Kaworu was now reinforcing, seeing the face of the man in question pop up alongside that of Major Theisman's and Galina's. "We'll be moving from this as soon as Rei's legs have been restored," he said to all of them. "Daniel, I do not think we can hold this position for much longer."
"Don't sweat it then." Major Theisman replied. "Extract to Toji and Hikari's position when you can, draw the Angels with you. We'll be making our way to our own redoubt we've made in the middle of their front line soon enough."
"Yes, sir," Kaworu replied with a slight smile. As Major Theisman's face disappeared, Kaworu turned his focus to Rei's as it appeared in his place. "Rei, how long do you think this will take?" he asked, only the slightest hint of anxiety in his voice as Unit-06 began to jab at the encroaching Angels.
Her eyes glanced over somewhere else as her lips moved without sound for a moment before her focus returned. "The process is beginning now."
Orien risked a glance down as the LCL, nearly invisible against the similarly colored crystal they trampled on, began to flow towards Unit-05's somewhat charred hips, flowing impossibly upward to surround them as bones, muscles, skin, and armor began to slowly form.
Even being a soldier like he was, Orien found the sight fairly nauseating and turned his focus back to shooting at the Angels that threatened to push past the mirror images of Unit-05.
And even with how quickly Unit-05 seemed to be healing, it was still long minutes of putting down one Angel after another, Sachiels and Israfels falling one after another, and raising AT Fields against the depredations of Baraquiels, Hadraniels, and the odd passing Zeruel. They all ducked as best they could when a Ptahiel slammed down into the ranks before them, trying, and failing, to pick up one of the reflections of Unit-05. Even still, the halberd shattered, and the reflection broke like so much sugar glass as Rei released her hold on it. The other reflections became more and more hard-pressed in the minutes after.
"How much longer do you think on that healing, Rei?" Orien finally asked.
"A few more moments and I should be back on my feet," Rei replied coolly. "Once I have regained my mobility, we will need to make a concentrated effort to push out from within this pocket we've created to the position Hikari and Toji's team have taken."
They all glanced towards the hill that Toji had taken to fortifying, a thick bramble-like wall surrounding it with motes of light extending from the branches giving a stark contrast to the dark wood they augmented, casting the Angels that hung impaled on them with a cold gleam. From within the fortress, lines of light, thorns, and bullets flew into the air as the Ptahiel that had given them a near-miss circled around towards it, Turiels and Zeruels following it along with a sizable amount of Angels on the ground.
"Well, at least it's going to be a better spot than this one," Galina said offhandedly as she filled a Sachiel with Lancium rounds.
"Too true," Marie replied, turning to offer a hand to the now whole Unit-05 to help it to its feet.
"Very well," Rei said with a quiet sigh as her rifle reappeared in her Eva's hands. "Now, we'll need a spearhead to cut through all these Angels surrounding us. We'll layer our AT Fields to allow for all of us to be protected. So… who wishes to form the tip of the spear?"
Orien looked over at Galina, an arched eyebrow accompanying a slight smile. "So, would you like to lead this dance with me?"
Galina chuckled softly. "I've wondered when you might ask that." she said wryly as they formed up in the front of the other Evas.
"Prepare yourselves," Kaworu interjected, returning the pilots' focus to the point where they would be charging through. "I will drop the shields in 10 seconds. 5 seconds. 3, 2, 1. Now!"
The shields came down, and immediately Orien and Galina stepped forward, their NuPallet Rifles roaring as one Angel after another tumbled to the ground, blasts and swipes and stabs blunted at the very least by the armor of the AT Fields.
They pressed forward step by step, side by side, Orien and Galina sometimes chopping their way out from a bind as the edge of the front line, so close, seemed to be ages away with the existence of the Angels that had surrounded them.
Finally, Orien and Galina reached open ground, the edge of the Corite field before them empty as they separated, turning to ensure their comrades could exit as well. As Howard and Kaworu passed through the line, they all turned and dashed towards the hill, confident of the Angel's pursuit.
Orien caught Kaworu opening a channel out of the corner of his vision as he shoved a Sachiel in front of him aside. "Toji, Hikari," he said calmly, "we are inbound to your position, as I'm sure you can see. Please make an opening of some kind for us, if you can."
. . .
Toji climbed onto the ramparts of the wall as he ducked yet another Turiel screaming down at them from above, Mavuto and N'kani Okomah-Mordi, his wingmate, worked quickly with Arantxa and Falkenrath to put an AT Field over the rather powerful explosion the Turiel made.
True to Kaworu's word, he saw the 7 Evas dashing through the stream of Angels that came towards them, a river of the things following after them. "Well, damn," Toji said calmly as he leveled a seemingly intricately carved rocket launcher, the end of the barrel shaped to look like a blooming lotus, and fired it, a thorn that glowed with a blue and green bioluminescent light streaking out towards them as he designated a few Angels around the Evas. "Thanks for all the new targets, I guess."
As the thorn streaked over the Eva's heads, its glow brightened until it exploded with a flash, slivers of the thorn driving unerringly towards the Angels and piercing legs and arms and torsos, Angels, or their limbs, falling to the ground as wood began to grow with a cracking sound across the impact points.
Arantxa looked out over the wall for a moment, and Toji could see a queasy look on her face. "I never thought plants could be
that dangerous." she said quietly.
"At this rate, pinning them down and disarming them is as good as killing them," Toji replied as his focus turned to Hikari. "Hikari, is there any way to make a gate where the Evas can pass through, but the Angels can't?"
Hikari nodded. "Give me an entrance, Toji. I'll make sure they're the only ones to get in," she said firmly.
Toji nodded in turn, turning his focus to a small portion of the wall that faced their friends. He pulled up on the base of the section with his Interfacing, the brambles parting somewhat slowly with creaks and groans more suited to a massive oak.
As they parted, Hikari focused silently, and a curtain of light swept from left to right across the opening. "You have your opening," she said to the other pilots. "Please hurry if you can."
Toji watched the other Evas pick up their pace as they stabbed, shot, and shoved aside the procession in front of them, and he grew uneasy at how little distance was gained from the Angels that they led to them.
Then he looked up, and surprise washed over him with a cold shock as he saw the Ptahiel that had gone ahead of them swooping down towards Hikari.
"Oh no, you don't," Toji muttered as he covered Unit-03 with his AT Field, Arantxa's joining his as the Angel slammed into it, the rest of its body writhing. It seemed intent to push through the AT Field regardless, and Toji only barely noticed the other Evas dashing through as they strengthened his AT Field, allowing him to turn away for the barest of moments to ensure that the way their allies had come through was shut again, the wave of Angels slamming into it with the sheer weight of momentum killing more than a few of them.
As he turned back, he took a breath of relief as he watched the Ptahiel seemingly bounce off the defense, spinning away from the fortress into the air as its prismatic arms waved around. He lined up his launcher again, taking aim at the mostly unscathed ribbons of hexagonal Corite.
Before he could fire, it swerved away, diving towards the ground and leveling out just before it struck, making a long loop before it began to drive towards the base again.
Toji fired once, then twice, then simply kept firing at the seemingly nigh suicidal Angel. Whatever roots his shots could make were torn apart, either by the grasping hands or by the sheer momentum of the beast.
"Focus on the Ptahiel!" he shouted to the others. "Take it down!"
He felt the shuddering of the other Evas hurrying to his side as they all pressed on the Ptahiel, a tempest of glass and light, ink and wood and metal all beating down the rapidly approaching Angel, a massive, broad and bladed ram appearing at its head.
"Brace for impact!" Toji shouted as he stepped slightly in front of Unit-03, Unit-04 spreading its arms wide as he sent the sharpened, thick branches that faced the Ptahiel growing out at a breathtaking speed.
In an instant, the ram met the wall of spikes, the Angel crashing through the glowing branches as they snapped and went flying in all directions. The Angel slowed only barely, finally slamming into the main wall.
Toji saw a flash of prismatic light, felt blinding pain ripping his arm off as he went flying backward, the impact into what he thought was the opposite wall of the sanctum arching his back as he screamed, his throat going raw in an instant as his vision became washed out with light.
Taking deep heaving breaths as his vision began to clear, he looked over to his right. Somewhat surprisingly, he found Unit-04's right arm, blood-like LCL flowing out into Unit-03's lap.
His breath hitched as he took in the state Unit-03 was in. One of the blades must have impacted her left side dead on, the Eva's upper body from shoulder to hip torn away from the rest of its body at the left clavicle, revealing bones, internal organs, and a weakly glowing S
2 Organ pulsing gently.
"Hikari," he said desperately, looking at her channel and seeing her laying back in her seat, a hollow look in her eyes. "Hikari!"
Tears of relief threatened to roll down his face as Hikari blinked her eyes back into focus, shaking her head slightly as her hand came up to rub it gently. "Toji… that was…"
She winced in pain, and Toji got Unit-04 to its feet, grabbing its arm and pressing it to the stump as the auto-repair system kicked in. "Give me a minute, I'll get you back up."
"Wait, Toji," Hikari said with no small amount of force. "The others."
Toji blinked, then looked around him. Three other Evas, one of them from the EU, one from America, and the last from the AU, were slumped beside them, utterly still as massive branches pierced their chests from various angles. Arantxa's Eva was getting to its feet unsteadily, helped up by Rei as both began to extract chunks of wood from all around their bodies. Everyone else was still, somehow, on the wall, Kaworu working with the other Evas to attack the Ptahiel.
"Falkenrath, Okomah-Mordi, Hansen. You guys there?" he asked as he tried, and failed, to open a channel to them.
"This is Central Dogma." First Lieutenant Ooi's voice cut in. "Those three pilots' emergency evac systems kicked in once their Plugs were breached. They are out of the fight."
The words shocked Toji like ice water, and he shook his head as he finally turned his focus back to the writhing Ptahiel. For all of its efforts to breach the wall, Toji's last-minute effort seemed to prevent a breach from occurring, trapping the Angel within.
Thinking quickly, he opened a link to the Evas still standing within the redoubt. "Try to tie it down, keep it from getting out! I'll be there in a minute."
Turning back to Hikari, he put Unit-04's hands on Unit-03's left shoulder and the right side of its torso. "I've got an idea that might speed the healing process up for you," he said, gently bringing both parts together again.
"Whatever it is, it's going to need a lot more LCL than my system can give it," Hikari replied, clearly uncertain even as she winced.
"We've got plenty pooling outside," Toji said as he began his Expression, the wound covered over with wood that plastered the two parts of Unit-03 together, a root snaking into the ground and soon gleaming red with the condensation of the gathering LCL.
"Let me know when you're ready," Toji said as he stood and turned to the Ptahiel, seeing the lashes of ink and the prismatic walls of AT Fields that bound it down.
"You'll know when I am," Hikari replied, a slight smile on her face. "Go be awesome, dear."
Toji took a deep breath as he nodded, a slight smile on his face as he raced towards the scene.
As Unit-04 leaped onto the wall in front of the Ptahiel, he opened a channel to Kaworu. "How far out can you bind this thing to the ground?" he asked.
Kaworu glanced out at the Angel that stretched nearly a kilometer and a half in length. "I'd say about 20 meters from where I stand for sure, more if need be," he replied after a moment's thought.
Toji smiled slightly. "Perfect. We're going to entomb this thing."
Linking his soul to Kaworu's, he walked out over the branches that he'd put out to stop the Ptahiel's advance, finding them a remarkably stable platform.
As Kaworu took in what, exactly, Toji planned to do, he scoffed quietly, smiling slightly as he began his part, streams of ink flying into the air from the ground around the writhing form of the Angel and falling over its body, binding it down as the shimmering ink dissolved the flailing arms composed of AT Fields that it touched.
In the sections that had been bound down, Toji grew the branches, unifying them into a sheet of bark that advanced over the Angel, covering the rest of the limbs as he slowly advanced, firing at the other Angels all the way as those others who could fight kept the other Angels around them off him.
Kaworu advanced behind him, the inky vines seeping out of the wood as they advanced towards the next free section, the sound of cracking Corite muffled by the oaken tomb that grew over it.
Their progress was hardly unhindered, however. Far too often, they had to pause as they threw off an assault from the other Angels, either from the ground or the skies.
Kaworu looked up for a moment and saw another such interruption screaming towards them, the blue jewels in their carved miters glowing intensely. "Toji, two Turiels to our 11!" he said quickly.
Toji looked up, his Expression pausing for a moment as he threw up his AT Field to try and deflect the Angels' blast.
In the seconds before they impacted, however, a lance of brilliant white light slammed into the jewel of the one to the right, cracking and shattering it as the lance flung it into the other Turiel, sending both into the crowd of Angels as an explosion from both of them took out several others.
Toji risked a glance back, and his heart soared as he saw Unit-03 standing proud and tall, the last of the bark from his Expression falling off its shoulder. "I told you you'd know," Hikari said with a smile. "Go! I'll keep them off your back."
Toji nodded as he turned and pressed on, the bark growing more and more as they advanced slowly, returning fire as best they could as the process continued. They were close now. Just a little further…
Finally, the tail of the Angel, thrashing wildly, was consumed, and the cracking of Corite lessened, then stopped as Toji pumped a fist. "That's right! One down!" he said with a grin. "Now all we need to worry about is the other two and those damn Ramiels."
He looked up at the two octahedrons in question for a moment as he made his way back towards the fort. The one that was whole was seeming to try at assisting Azazel in its fight against Lilith, its tremendously powerful beam cutting deep gouges into Lilith's defensive AT Fields. The nearly dead one, on the other hand, seemed to be trying its best to make a dent in the other Evas down at the front line.
"Did we lose anyone in that attack?" Kaworu asked as he sent several glyphs flying towards the river of Angels that had begun to make their way towards them, Spears of prismatic light skewering several Angels.
"Falkenrath, Okomah-Mordi, and Hansen." Toji said grimly as he fired his launcher at the Angels again. "It's a good thing their teleport systems got them out of there, but we're down three for the rest of the fight."
"A grievous blow," Kaworu said gravely. Then, he blinked, his eyes widening as he looked up past the Angels.
"What is it, Kaworu?" Hikari asked, glancing up with him before they all heard a familiar, mighty roar trumpet across the wide-open space.
"We have at least one more to make up for the loss," he replied quietly as many of the Angels paused and turned towards the sound.
The one closest to the noise was promptly engulfed by a lance of brilliant blue fire, what little defense it could muster crumpling in the face of such concentrated nuclear fire.
"Well then," Hikari said almost soberly as the massive, charcoal-colored monster lumbered forward, his footsteps shaking the earth. "At last, Godzilla has arrived."
. . .
Mavuto Okorie looked out over the rampart to see Godzilla shrug off a barrage of blasts from the Sachiels in front of him, his trademark attack lancing back out and brushing aside the AT Fields raised against him with only a few seconds worth of effort.
It was utterly breathtaking. He'd seen the after-action report with Godzilla. Everyone had. But to see it in person, almost feel the heat of his atomic breath…
He focused again as he shouldered his shotgun, firing a burst of slugs into a Baraquiel that was coming up on Godzilla's blind side.
The rounds slammed into the Angel's shoulder, causing it to roar in pain, Godzilla turning toward the unexpected sound and roaring in challenge as it charged, slamming the Baraquiel into the ground and beginning to mercilessly slash at it.
"Friends," he said to his comms screens, "as friendly as I'm sure the big guy is, I don't think he'll be happy just sitting in a fort with us."
"Then we'll form up around the big guy."" Toji replied, continuing to fire from his position as he manipulated the platform that the Ptahiel had become into cover that he, Kaworu, and Hikari crouched behind. "If we can link up with the others, then we're likely going to be damn near unstoppable together."
Mavuto nodded. "That certainly sounds like a good plan to me."
"I'll let Daniel know so they'll be ready for us crashing their party," Toji said, his next words silent as he muted the comm link to the pilots around them. After a moment, Toji looked back at them, a bold gleam in his eyes. "Alright, guys.
Over the top, and form up with the giant lizard!"
With that, and with a song in his heart, Mavuto, along with the other Evas, lept into the air with the help of their AT Fields, guns roaring as they slammed to the ground on the other side of the tide of Angels that tried to break into it and breaking into a sprint towards Godzilla as they focused on the Angels in front of him.
Godzilla, seeming to get the idea, roared before his breath returned, cutting through the thinning line of Angels and out the other side as he began to march ahead.
"Alright," Toji began, "Daniel says he's guiding Godzilla over to him. Keep him clear from anything that tries to swoop down on us! The last thing we need to do is get bogged down in the front lines."
"With all of us?" Mavuto replied, the barest hint of incredulity tinging his voice. "We are in Evangelions, my friend. If we will it, we will get there," he said firmly.
As he finished, he found himself at a corner of a large box, Godzilla at its center and Miss Vincennes and Ayanami close by him as they took point in pressing forward towards the front line, covering the massive kaiju as they glanced at the sky. And all they needed was a glance to tell them that they had gotten far more attention than they perhaps bargained for.
One of the massive Ramiels, the relatively undamaged one, began to float over to them, a gentle, choral note still echoing powerfully over and over again as it did, the Angels underneath it moving with it as well.
"Well, we have our biggest target yet," Hikari said as she shoved a Baraquiel off of her glaive. "And it looks like it brought company. Mavuto, you and those with you keep those Angels on the ground from overwhelming us. We'll take care of the Ramiel while you help Godzilla clear the way."
Mavuto nodded, his gaze settling on the Angels striding towards them, a raucous assembly that reminded him more of the revolutionaries he'd seen during the Impact Wars than a proper army.
But this rabble still had god-like powers, he had to remind himself as several attacks, blasts of purple energy and lightning bolts, slammed into his AT Field as he raised his shotgun. "I'm going to need to get in close. I'm sure the big man will like that," he said to Vincennes and Ayanami.
Miss Vincennes smiled sweetly, a hungry gleam almost, but not quite hidden behind her eyes. "I can make that work too," she said firmly as she switched the grip on her NuPallet Rifle to better use the bayonet at its end.
Miss Ayanami was far more reserved but simply nodded. "I will support you from an intermediate-range, either with ranged or melee weapons. Please take care, as this is a large group of Angels."
Mavuto nodded. "Will do, miss Cathedral. Lucky for me, I have just the tools for the job."
Ayanami blinked at the nickname, then simply nodded as Godzilla roared, the Evas parting as he let loose a blast of superheated plasma at their obstacle, several AT Fields overlapping and only just stopping the beam in its tracks.
As Godzilla's mouth snapped shut, a piercing scream filled the air, and an almost blinding light hissing to life with a snap as Ramiel's massively powerful beam roared to life, seeming to fall on them like a star had been thrown at them.
They all raised their AT Fields, doing their best to blunt the attack as they layered the prismatic shields, Godzilla standing still as he looked up as best he could at the Ramiel and roared in defiance.
'I like your attitude.' Mavuto mused grimly as he looked back at the monster for a moment. Then, his gaze swept back out towards the Angels that slowly advanced towards them, and he raised his shotgun.
'You all, on the other hand…'
He fired, then fired again and again, massive slugs slamming into the Angel's AT Fields as they, again, layered them.
'Oh, come on.' he thought as he continued to fire, having to keep his focus on the AT Field above them as Godzilla lumbered past him, his atomic beam firing the whole way as he charged.
'Maybe…'
He didn't have an Aspect Core he could use to copy Godzilla's attack. Then again, not only was he Interfaced, he was, as he had said, in an Evangelion.
He stopped firing, his brow furrowing as he concentrated on trying to replicate the attack as best he could, spinning the strands of Frames into something new to him almost on instinct as his gaze bored into the front line of the Angels. His gaze…
The world around his vision soon began to ripple with color as an Israfel off to Godzilla's left began to melt, then burn. Mavuto blinked, then realized what he was doing, a slight smile breaking his currently stoic features.
'Eye beams. Damn, that's cool.'
He began to sweep his gaze over the other Angels, the beams flickering out for a moment as he reached and passed the view of Godzilla's back before flaring to life again.
Finally, though, the hot pressure of Ramiel's attack lifted, and Mavuto blinked the eye-beams off as he looked up and drew in his AT Field.
He found himself staring at what looked like a rain of yellow and gold glitter, the Ramiel firing its beam into the storm ineffectually as the beam twisted and reflected off the glitter into the air or into passing Turiels and Zeruels.
Mavuto's brow furrowed for a moment before he heard a pair of keening screeches and saw two pairs of brilliant, colorful wings swoop out from behind Ramiel.
"Looks like the moths made it." he chuckled as he watched them batter the crystalline Angel with beam attacks and slashing wings and claws.
"So it seems," Ayanami replied. "Now, though, we focus on protecting Godzilla."
Mavuto looked back down at the kaiju in question, now several rows of Angels deep as he laid about himself with claws and tail and atomic breath.
"Alright, big guy," he said as he unsheathed his now Lancium-plated blade and charged, Miss Vincennes at his side and Ayanami behind as they all heard a mighty cracking sound from above, "don't take all the fun without sharing."
. . .
Kadmonel, as a man of science and higher learning, knew that this bridge, of all places, was frankly the last place he should be, as he helped direct Lilith to block a series of slashes from Azazel's claws, several dozen AT Fields springing to life to blunt a Duotron Cannon barrage.
Most of those who were here on the bridge were most likely of the same mind as him, being an assortment of scientists, technicians, and scholars. Young Kensuke, on the other hand, seemed to be having the time of his life. His zeal had seen him placed in charge of coordinating the offensive capabilities of Lilith, in conjunction with himself and several dozen souls that were far more experienced in combat than either of them was.
It was a job that he, well, attacked with a drive that had even seemed to surprise their opponent, as they seemed to constantly keep Azazel on the back foot (or tail) in their engagements.
However, their opponent had, yet again, flitted away using its connection to a Dirac Sea to appear kilometers away from them, pointing its cannons at them as the barrels began to glow.
Kensuke's reaction was quick and, from what Kadmonel could glean of it before it happened, quite brilliant.
As the cannons fired, Kensuke threw up several dozen AT Fields, arranged quite precisely instead of in the layers that they had been using to block the attacks. As the deep red beams struck the Fields, the attack was reflected away, slamming into the line of Angels beside them and turning most to ash.
"Well executed, young man," he said to the boy, not quite expecting the exasperation that was evident in his soul.
"Maybe. But it's not going to mean much if we can't do something about this thing jumping all over the place." Kensuke replied, exasperation dripping from his words.
"Is there any way we could possibly pin this thing down?"
Kadmonel considered the question as Lilith began to close the distance, its massive spear at the ready as Azazel lifted into the air for a moment to try and strike down at them. "Perhaps there is a way," he said aloud as the Angel fell upon them with slashing claws, Kensuke interposing the spear between them as he, and the other senior scientists of HERZ looked back at him.
He focused on Kensuke. "It's going to take much of my focus trying to anchor Azazel to the physical world. Thus, I must take away somewhat from the AT Field dampening I'm maintaining, and I'll have to leave motor functions to you and your souls as well while I prepare the... Expression, I believe you would call it. Can you make that work?"
It was a silent moment before Kensuke nodded. "I've got this," he said, the briefest quivering to his voice.
"I will ensure that the pilots know that we are attempting to restrain Azazel." Yui Ikari piped in, and Kadmonel nodded.
"Of course," he replied. "Inform me when you all are ready."
There were silent moments within the vessel itself, even as they were locked in close combat again with Azazel, before they nodded, Kadmonel feeling their readiness without them even saying a word.
"Transferring motor control to you now, Kensuke," he said, seeing Kensuke's form shudder slightly as he passed on the motive force of their vessel. "I will require some time to activate the effect. Ensure we are close to Azazel when I need to activate it."
Kensuke swallowed, a rather superfluous motion, and nodded as he began to press his assault.
His view was that of Lilith's eyes, at least where they would have been under the helmet, the landscape of Korea stretching out for kilometers beyond their battlefield even as his focus rested on the form of Azazel that took up much of that view.
Kensuke's jaw tightened as he spurred Lilith to a charge, feeling the space between his brows warming up for a moment before a prismatic beam blared to life, bursting forth from it to slam into Azazel's gaping mouth, sending it stumbling back as it raised its claws, flailing them wildly.
Kensuke charged Lilith in, slamming into Azazel with a shoulder check that sent it to the ground, the spear swinging down on its side as the glint of the core on its top peeked out at them almost tantalizingly. Hundreds, perhaps even thousands of AT Field bloomed to life, one after the other being torn apart by the Lancite spear as Azazel desperately defended itself.
With a whoosh of air, Azazel's free wing flapped, sending the massive Angel sliding away from Lilith as it got itself upright again, aiming a Duotron Cannon at Lilith.
Kensuke reacted by charging, thrusting the Lancite spear towards the Cannon as its barrel began to glow, the tip crashing into the barrel and causing sparks to fly as the spearhead sheared the barrel before reaching the base of the gun, a massive explosion throwing the spear away as Azazel roared in pain.
Kensuke shouted in triumph as he pressed the attack, parrying the dazed, wild attacks of Azazel's claws as he tried to push the Lancium spear through the AT Fields that remained in his way.
"I am ready to pin Azazel." Kadmonel finally said as levelly as he could, Kensuke beginning to feel pulses of energy thrumming through Lilith's body. "Stand by."
Kensuke nodded, pressing forward towards Azazel with a series of slashes that the Angel tried to block and parry, using the twisted, smoking husk of its former gun as a makeshift shield as best it could.
"Commencing…" Kadmonel said, pausing as a lull in the battle came. "Now!"
Kensuke felt a flash of energy, crackling like electricity, race through Lilith as Azazel suddenly froze in place, its form seeming to fuzz slightly as lines of prismatic light began to trace across its body, intricate patterns making an insubstantial, yet immutable cage.
Kensuke wasted no time driving the massive spear blade towards Kihl's ugly mug, the AT Fields that it threw up one after the other slowing Kensuke's progress as it began to feel like trying to shove the spear through a block of ballistic gel.
'Come on…' Kensuke thought as the tip of the spear inched closer and closer towards a face that was twisted in rage and… concentration?
"I'm getting a massive build-up in energy within the Corite field!" Mrs. Akagi announced, drawing the attention of all on the bridge to the left as the field in question began to glow, the almost baleful light refracting and twisting within the spatial cage.
"What's going on?" Fuyutsuki said, focusing on trying to scan the Corite field and finding his view obscured by the cage.
Kensuke, his brow furled, looked back at Azazel, looked back at Lorenz Kihl's face… and found him smiling.
. . .
Mariah Marlowe, even with the rather annoying development of the extra layers of AT Fields returning, was, if nothing else, having the time of her life as she mentally pushed the wall of her fortifications forward, Lancium blades jutting from it advancing into the Angels in turn as the mighty walls scraped the Corite off of the ground.
For herself, and all the other Evas on the wall of the rather amorphous fortification making its way into the heart of the enemy force, the ride was utterly smooth, allowing the Evas to continue firing from their covered positions. Daniel and his lot, who had sailed in on a super stretchy piece of land over the heads of the Angels, focused on where they had come from, Daniel letting his pet floaty blades wreak delightful havoc on the Angel's ranks.
The Thrill, in conjunction with her heightened senses and reflexes, was almost a living thing at this point, letting her deflect or dance away from the frankly pitiful beams that the terribly weakened Ramiel threw at her as she returned fire, her shots coming closer and closer to its core. Its companion, at first escaping mostly unscathed, was now under duress by massive
moths, of all things. Familiar ones, too.
'I'll admit, they're kind of pretty though. Little different from what I saw on the TV, so that's cool.' she mused as she sent one more circular blade of Lancite whirling towards the smoking, blackened Ramiel, pausing for the briefest of moments as she watched the blade slice through the tough, gem-like skin.
'I wonder where you fit on Mohs' scale.' Mari thought somewhat idly as she kept her eyes on the Angel, and her AT Field raised against any attacks, and crouched behind the wall she had made.
It was a moment, much like the others, where she inadvertently held her breath waiting. Then, a shrill scream, and the smoking crystal began to fall apart.
Mari cheered and pumped her fist. "Oh yes, baby!
I'm the daft bint who got the Ramiel kill!" she whooped.
She stood again, leveling a rifle that flowed into existence in her hands and taking aim at a poor, unfortunate Baraquiel that was closing in. "Let's keep a good thing going, now!"
With that, she let a fully automatic barrage of Lancium rounds fly, the one or two extra AT Fields meaning little to her attack, at least, as the rounds tore into the flesh of the Angel's neck and body, the bullets missing the core low and to the front of its chest.
The Baraquiel roared in pain and rage, drawing the attention of several of its brethren to her as its mouth, along with those of several others, began to crackle and glow.
Mari's barrage stopped, her eyes widening slightly in fright as she ducked behind the wall of Lancite, thoroughly grateful that the metal didn't conduct electricity as half a dozen bolts of the stuff, along with several dozen other attacks, beat on the surface of the wall, bolstered by her AT Field, with seemingly little effect beyond tiring her out.
'They know they can beat us down eventually if they have the chance. It's a real fat one at that, though!'
As the barrage lessened, the space around her began to glow with a brilliant purple light that she had become familiar with. Poking her head up, she saw several dozen Sachiels and Israfels rising into the air, confirming her suspicions.
"Alright, boys and girls," she said to her comm link to the Nordic and Arabic Evas, their focus pulled to her for a moment, "We've got floaters! Light 'em up!"
Her rifle, and the rifles of her charges, came up unerringly to target the Angels hanging in the air, and the thunder of their guns joined the cacophony of battle once again, an Angel dropping lifelessly to the ground every few seconds.
Even still, a few Angels, no more than one or two dozen managed to land among their ranks on the walls, scattered and in small pockets. Mari couldn't help but wonder whether that was fully a good or bad thing for them as she drove a sword through a Sachiel's chest, the Angel falling to show Shinji in front of an Israfel component, his sonic attacks blowing off one arm before the Lance of Longinus, tongues of flame licking the air across its blade, appeared out of the back, the Angel tumbling into the fort's interior.
She heard a crackle behind her and turned to see two Sachiels with their backs turned to her, the one to her right nearly exploding in a burst of lightning as Unit-02 tossed it aside, charging the other and ramming a sword into its chest.
As the dying Sachiel weakly tried to use its spikes against Unit-02, Mari's eyes widened, partly in shock and partly in excitement, as a whole Israfel touched down almost silently behind her, seemingly escaping Asuka's notice as it raised its claws.
Mari leveled her rifle, aiming just past Unit-02's head at the gleaming red target, squeezing off a tight burst of rounds that cracked past Unit-02's head, slamming into the Angel's core and exploding, sending the Israfel nearly flying back as the Evangelion in front of it flinched visibly.
Mari couldn't help the smug smile on her face as Asuka opened a comm channel to her. "You know, you could have just told me, and I would have gotten the verdammt thing," she grumbled, rubbing one ear as she grimaced at Mari for a moment.
A look of dramatic shock appeared on Mari's face as she turned Unit-08 back to face the hordes, growing both smaller as they thinned its ranks and slowly larger as Angels pushed through the intentionally left 'gaps' in the cages. "Our dear lady lightning, too caught up in things to catch a single Angel trying and failing to sneak up on her?"
The smug smile returned after a moment. "I'm shocked if you'll pardon the pun."
Mari was silently grateful for the smile, small and begrudging though it was, that twitched on Asuka's lips. "You're awfully brave, Boudica, cracking jokes in the middle of a warzone," she replied as she came to Mari's side.
"Of course, I am, princess," Mari replied confidently. "Anyone in as utterly bonkers of a situation as we are has the entirely reasonable recourse to do so."
Before she could continue, Toji's face popped up on her screen, clearly somewhat harried. "Guys, we're heading your way," he said to who she presumed was everyone he could reach. "We're down a few Evas, but we're up Godzilla. We'll need a path cleared so we can link up to you and really get things going."
"We can make that work." Mari chirped in reply as she found them in the distance. It wasn't hard, really, when they had a giant nuclear monster wreaking havoc alongside them, gouts of brilliant blue plasma sweeping through the unlucky Angels in front of him. "Allow me to get things started by clearing a path for you guys."
Mari stowed the rifle she was armed with on Unit-08's back before it spread its hands wide, a dramatic gesture leading to the creation of two massive, scythe-like blades of Lancium-plated tungsten carbide floating at the midpoint of the wall, right at chest height for most of the Angels in their way.
"Hold on," Shinji said as his face appeared in Mari's view, Unit-01 coming over to her side as a ball of pulsing blue light appeared in its free hand before floating down to rest behind the blade on the right.
"Oh," Asuka said knowingly, a small smile on her face as an arc of electricity jumped from Unit-02's elbow and out of its pointing finger to the opposite blade. "I can't let him show off all on his own, after all. I'd hate for him to get too much bigger of a head than he needs," she said with a slight smile.
Mari snorted as she shook her head slightly. "Sure," she said slowly, knowingly, as she looked back at the unlucky bastards who would be on the receiving end of this. "Everyone ready?"
Shinji and Asuka, with slight blushes on their faces, nodded silently, and Mari let the blades fly out without another word.
The scythes cut through the Angels with an almost contemptuous ease, the blade Asuka had blessed crackling with seemingly barely contained lightning that lashed out at those around it, blowing off limbs and opening up cores for shots from the others as they turned from their quickly finishing battles to assist in the effort.
Shinji's contribution, on the other hand, was rather more quiet, the man in question's brow furrowing slightly as he seemed to be waiting for… something to happen.
"Any time now, Shinji," Asuka said with an air of exaggerated patience as she picked off wounded Angels with a dull, gleaming metal rifle that crackled with energy.
"Almost…" Shinji replied as he watched the blade make it to the middle of the terribly long distance between them and the others.
Then, as it passed the midway point, Shinji nodded, and the sphere detached, flashing with white light before a massive shockwave burst out, a bassy, powerful sound accompanying the shockwave cutting through the ranks of Angels around it.
Mari and Asuka both looked out at the scene, one with eyes wide in wonder, the other with a look of satisfaction. "Puppy…" Mari said as she began to recall the blades to clear the rest of the way for their companions, now charging through the gap. "I want to do that."
"Someday, Mari," Shinji replied patiently, not able to stop the slight smile on his face as he began to cover their friends' approach with a rifle of flames and sound.
It was long, terribly delightful moments of thinning the Angels out that now numbered, at least on this side, in the mere hundreds before Mari felt something beneath their feet begin to thrum with energy.
The chatter of rifles stuttered as the others began to feel it as well, the Evas outside of the walls along with Godzilla, now only several dozen meters away pausing for a moment as they looked around, the big lizard roaring in apparent confusion. Then the Corite began to glow.
"Uh… Daniel? Lilith?" Mari said, the confusion on her face as evident as it was in her voice. "I'd love to have some idea of what's going on here."
She watched Daniel shake his head as Unit-00, along with all the other Evas, watched the light beginning to move away from them. Towards the Spatial Cage.
Mari looked back at Lilith and Azazel, locked together in combat as a net of what she assumed were AT Fields draped itself across Azazel's body. "Azazel must be trying some-" she began.
A loud crackling sound, accompanied by what a sound that Mari equated to hundreds of thousands, even millions of pieces of paper being smoothed out all at once, drew her gaze back to the cage, her eyes widening at the sight of the twisted, tumbling space slowly, but surely realigning, thousands of Angels coming back into terrible focus.
The Angels seemed almost… taken aback for a moment, looking around themselves before their gaze fell squarely upon them, the fading light casting an almost hellish glow on the army that had just been unleashed.
The glow faded, replaced by the purple light of hundreds of Angels taking off and hovering towards them, the others beginning a thunderous march.
"Oh, shit." was Mari's only deadpan words before she opened up on the aerial Angels, the rest of those in the fort joining her defense only moments later, and the other pilots making haste towards the ramparts and jumping to land on the ramparts fell out of sight as she sprayed the air with Lancite rounds, Angels dropping from the sky one after another.
Even still, dozens of Sachiels and Israfels began to touch down around them, Mari finding herself, along with Asuka, Shinji, and Toji, completely surrounded in a scene that reminded Mari very uncomfortably of one of her dad's old horror movies. She hoped that it wouldn't end like most of them did.
. . .
There was utter chaos swirling all around Daniel, even standing back to back with Mana, Mayumi, and Mavuto as he was. He'd switched to his gunblade, the rifle-sized weapon hacking, stabbing, and blasting through what now seemed like an endless deluge of Angels. At least, he personally attacked those that were able to get through the rest of the barriers thrown in their way. Nynrya's blades proved to be one such barrier, Mana and Mayumi's whips of water and spiked walls of ice another.
Even still, the Angels, freed from their cage, seemed almost endless again, and utterly able to crush them under the sheer weight of numbers.
"We need to link up with everyone else!" Mana said as she sent a tentacle of inky black water lashing out, crushing limbs and cores as they became enveloped in deceptive depths. "The last thing we need is the simulations all over again."
"That seems…" Mayumi began, pausing as she ducked a swipe of an Israfel's claws, rising back up to fill its chest with a gun-lance of unnaturally tough, deep blue ice before it could separate. "Wise." she finally finished.
Daniel looked across the way, spotting Shinji, Asuka, Mari, and Toji in between what was well over a dozen Angels at this point. "Mana, Mayumi, you'll be on path-clearing duty," he said as he stepped behind them to Mavuto's side. "Mavuto and I will cover your sides and rear. Ready?"
Mana and Mayumi simply nodded as they leveled their weapons, Mana's tentacles of water working in tandem with a liquid claw while Mayumi's icy gun-lance rippled with the light of an aurora.
"Alright. Go!" Daniel said, bursts of starfire aimed at a Hadraniel towering over them immediately following his words as Mavuto opened up with his shotgun on a group of Sachiels advancing on them.
Mana and Mayumi wasted no time charging forward into the ranks of Angels awaiting them, working in tandem with a skill only Interfacing and years of training together could produce. A tentacle of Mana's caught a Sachiel's arm spike meant for Mayumi as she speared the offender through with her gun-lance, firing out of the back of the Angel to take a chunk out of the torso of an Israfel. Step by step, Angels began to tumble or be thrown to either side of the ramparts, landing on the spikes or in front of Godzilla, who now stood fast in front of the redoubt and laid about himself, or the hard ground that had several Evas engaged in their own fights.
Mavuto and Daniel kept close, Daniel focussing down the Hadraniel, then switching fire to an Azariel that was flowing towards the wall as he heard the crack of the towering Angel's core, driving searing bolts, miniature suns, into the body of the mostly liquid Angel. Mavuto continued to simply hack and slash at the foe before them, limbs flying even as he cared little for the wounds he received in return, punctured or slashed limbs, a limb or spike run through the torso, even strikes close, but not quite hitting, his core and S
2 Organ shrugged off as he traded them for kills.
Finally, as Mayumi froze several of their attackers solid, Mana set jets of water on them, the sheer pressure melting away the Angel's now quite dead bodies. And, at last, they had linked up.
"Good to see you all holding up," Daniel said as he established a comm link with the others.
Asuka scoffed even as she ran through a Baraquiel that had been so brazen as to try and scale the dangerous, bladed wall, its core cracking as its mouth slipped off of Unit-02's shoulder. "Please, Daniel. As if we couldn't be."
"I hate to say it," Shinji said as he shoved off a Sachiel, "but if we don't level the playing field soon, that's going to change quite quickly."
"Then what are we to do, puppy?" Mari asked, stepping back from a limp Sachiel of her own as she pushed it off her blade. "I mean, the cage trick was less effective than we wanted it to be, sad as it is to say. We need something like that again. But with spikes this time."
"Something like that's probably going to take too much time, Mari," Mana said as she covered Shinji's back, an Israfel that was floating up the wall. "I don't know if Daniel can manage it with everyone on our backs like this."
"Maybe not." Daniel finally said as he sent a chain of stars, spiked with brilliant crystals, spinning down the length of the wall ahead of them towards Rei, Kaworu, and Hikari. "But maybe I can get something kind of like it. It's going to take a lot, and I'm going to need everyone's help. But I can help even the playing field."
"Well, don't keep us waiting, please," Mayumi said urgently. "Our survival could depend on it."
Daniel didn't reply as he began to link his soul to Shinji and Asuka, the others following in rapid succession until the power, the nigh limitless potential of all 27 remaining Evangelions thrummed through his soul.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen," Daniel began through his link to their souls,
"what I'm about to make is going to take a lot and is going to change the environment quite radically for the Angels. Be prepared, and cover me while I set this up."
With that, he focused, sure in those in his immediate area's protection, Frames of Metos only he could see stretching out like a ripple past the walls of the fortress, out to the outer edges of the Angelic army. As they slowed, Daniel began to weave the Frames that would make up another of what he knew as a Demesne Expression, the Flux that flowed through him massive even as he did his best to spread the load evenly.
Finally, after what felt like ages, the Demesne was complete, and Daniel formed his swordspear, slamming the butt of the weapon to the ground as he activated the massive Expression, the gleaming sword blade mark of his terrible past making itself known, forecasting what was to come.
A hollow boom echoed through the air as the ground beneath their feet transformed, the image of a galaxy sweeping out from the point of impact, Daniel standing atop a massive black hole, as a dome of stars and galaxies, nebulae and black holes drew itself over them all like a grand curtain. All could not help but stare up in utter awe for a moment, silence, impossibly, briefly reigning on the battlefield.
Then, things began to get interesting. The Angels slowly began to float into the air, seemingly untethered from gravity's pull. Those Angels still in the air found themselves bumping into their usually rather more grounded fellows.
"Don't be afraid to add your own little spin to things!" Daniel said as a pack of constellations shaped like massive lions burst from the dome of stars, swarming a Zeruel and tearing it to pieces in short order. "You're as connected to this as I am, and I can't hold this for long. Let loose!"
That was all some needed, as comets of water and ice, storms of lightning and thunder, meteorites of metal and wood, and stars of fire and pure light descended on the utterly upended and unprepared Angels.
Godzilla, finally seeming to get the idea and the opening presented before him, roared as he let loose a torrent of blue flame into the sky, striking several Angels with a fury that belied his rather battered form. From out beyond the Demesne, Mothra and Battra burst through the stars, screeching as they added their nigh mystical contributions.
It was an out and out slaughter now, AT Fields be damned. But he couldn't keep it up forever.
Daniel's vision began to tunnel, the Flux starting to become an almost physical weight that hung within him even as he tried to flush it out, his mark beginning to feel like it was burning him.
"Nynrya," he said, reaching out to her even as her blades danced through the Angels, strain evident in his tone,
"can you help me as well? I don't know how long I can keep this up."
"Of course." was Nynrya's reply, and the burden lightened slightly as she linked her soul to his.
And as he looked up, he saw her, whole in body at least for the moment, dancing through the clouds of Angels with a well-remembered grace, the two blades in her hands weaving an intricate dance through their opponents that mesmerized Daniel to no end.
And… she was utterly joyful now. Even within the constellation that made up her body, he could see the smile on her face, imagining what it might have looked like on her regular form as she cut a Ptahiel lengthwise with her blades, sending the pieces flying away into the manufactured night.
But, regardless, the Demesne's time was coming to an end.
"Alright, everyone," Daniel said after taking a deep, somewhat weary breath. "Last call. You got something you want to do in the next minute, do it."
He sent the notion to Godzilla and the two moths as best he could as he let what he was sure were the lifeless corpses of the Angels, along with some of their more lively compatriots, float gently to the ground.
That gave everyone the chance to more surely open up with their handheld weapons, the chatter of gunfire joining the hissing roar of Godzilla's beam as they struck out at anything that moved over much.
Finally, however, Daniel sighed. "Releasing the Demesne now," he said, the glow that had suffused the Vent Frames along his body fading as he let the Expression unravel.
The starfield above them was first to go, disintegrating like old film as the night sky faded to black, revealing the bright nearly noon-day sky that they'd hidden from. The brilliant, almost starkly white galaxy that they had all stood upon faded to darkness, the black hole on which Daniel and a few others had been on top of fading last.
The Corite that had seemingly stretched in every direction before was gone now, replaced by an utterly black earth that glittered and gleamed in the light of day as the Angels fell on top of it.
No living Angel was within the bounds of the metal redoubt now as Unit-00 went to one knee, Daniel doing his best to overcome the Flux Daze that threatened to overwhelm him as he began to taste his Plugsuit, every sound sending splashes of color into his vision for brief seconds before he cleared enough Flux from his system to dispel it.
It was moments uncounted before Daniel realized that the battlefield had gone mostly silent again, Daniel bringing UP Unit-00's head to look out over the scene.
Those Angels left on the ground were extracting themselves from the bodies of their brethren, the ground soaking with LCL. Behind the Angels, about 5 or so kilometers away, Azazel stood immobilized, Lilith seeming to keep it held in place.
"Daniel?"
He blinked, looking over at Shinji's concerned face on his comm screen. "That…"
"Was awesome!" Mari interrupted. "I had no idea we could do something like that!"
"Are you still good to fight?" Asuka asked, concern etched on her expression. "It looks like that took a lot out of you."
Daniel nodded. "Of course I am, Jünger," he said, getting Unit-00 back to its feet. "So… how many kills do you think that got us?"
"Can the
Cataphract give us a scan?" Mana asked. "Or perhaps the
Sonne would be more accurate."
Daniel nodded as he opened a channel to the
Sonne. "Good thinking, Mana," he replied, fighting off the weariness that came with venting so much Flux as. Best he could. "
Sonne, this is Theisman. Can you scan for how many Pneumaic signatures there are in our area that aren't our own, Azazel or Lilith?"
"One moment." the
Sonne's comms officer replied. The pilots spent that moment shifting to all face the Angels, Godzilla lumbering forward as the twin moths held a pattern circling them, watching a few battered Turiels, some Zeruels, and the remaining Ptahiel rise into the air. The last Ramiel seemed to have been dealt with in the chaos of the Demesne.
"We're reading 1,210 Angels in your area." the officer finally said, a shocked, excited gasp rippling through the pilots. Of the nearly five and a half thousand that they'd faced off with when the cage broke, to have decreased their numbers so dramatically was breathtaking.
Daniel nodded. "Acknowledged,
Sonne," he said as he dropped the link to the vessel. Then, he looked at Shinji. "Think you could make a try at Azazel through that?"
. . .
Shinji looked back out at the scattered, battered Angels that had begun to make their way towards them trying to form something vaguely resembling a battle line.
The sight of them, reduced as they were… it still terrified him to his core. It seemed almost ludicrous to a tiny part of him that they'd gotten this far at all. How could he do this, it whispered. How could they rest all their hopes on a single boy who hadn't wanted to be a pilot in the first place?
But then the rational part of his mind retook command. They'd placed their hope in him because he'd shown that he'd be able to bear it. Because they trusted him. He'd held off the end of the world already. What was one more time, really?
Shinji nodded. "I can certainly try," he replied with as much resolve as he could, setting his jaw.
Daniel smiled back at him, a glint of pride in his eyes. "Then we'll give you the best chance we can," he said.
With that, Shinji saw the faces of the other pilots open up to a general channel. "Alright, ladies and gents," Daniel began," we're going to make a corridor through the rest of these Angels to make sure that Shinji can get the best shot that he can at Azazel. Pick left or right, and turn that way when I give the signal through our soul links. If we get this right, we should have an Eva every few dozen meters. Ready?"
He saw most of the faces on the screen nod silently. With a deep breath, Daniel nodded in turn. "Alright. Go!"
With that, the Evas leaped off the top of the wall, shaking the ground with their impacts before charging forward towards a point in the line ahead that Daniel had given them all through their soul-link. Shinji fell in a little ways behind the tip of what had become a spearhead, finding himself in the center of the charge as Daniel and Asuka led it.
Shinji glanced to the side and saw Godzilla, somewhat surprisingly, keeping pace with them, roaring before he let loose an almost blinding beam of blue plasma, the beam's light beginning to bleed into purple as it slashed through several Angels to Shinji's right.
In the moment after, they made contact, pausing for a moment before Daniel and Asuka pushed through, turning to the left and right after cutting down several Angels and allowing Mana and Mari to push ahead of them. As he grew closer to the line of Angels, then began to pass through it, Shinji helped as best he could, the crimson Lance of Longinus flashing in the sun as he stabbed at the Angels that his comrades couldn't engage at the moment, shattering bony masks and glinting cores every few steps.
Step by step, inch by bloody inch, Shinji made his way through the slippery, sometimes gory corridor, slashing and stabbing and hurling fire and sound until the new violence became so much white noise, action and reaction becoming the sum of his current existence, limbs flying through the air something to only be avoided.
Finally, he saw an opening as Arantxa cut down a Baraquiel, blinking as he looked back from whence they came. They had made quick progress through the ranks. But the lines that were at his sides could only hold for so long. Thus, he looked back at his target, jumping over the body of the Baraquiel… and finding himself behind enemy lines, at last, looking up at the Angel, and by extension the men in it, that wanted to end humanity, seemingly frozen in place by Lilith's work.
Then, slowly, Azazel twisted itself, expending no small amount of effort to look at the line of Angels that Shinji stood in front of. And, somehow, Shinji knew that the face of Lorenz Kihl was looking directly at him.
The realization washed over him, plunging him into icy depths that froze his mind and his body, the Evangelion following suit. There stood one of the most powerful forces in the world, requiring the creator of humanity just to keep it still.
'What… what can I do against that?' he wondered, his vision beginning to tunnel, Azazel taking up… everything…
"Shinji!"
He blinked, his eyes turning to see Asuka on the screen. "Whuh?" was the only reply he could give at the moment.
"I get it! It's terrifying! But we need you to
go!" she shouted. "We'll be behind you when we can!"
Shinji opened his mouth, then closed it as he took a deep breath, steeling himself as he turned his focus back to Azazel, Unit-01's grip on the Lance of Longinus tightening. "Alright. Here I go!"
With that, Unit-01 burst into a sprint, the Lance's bident points leading the way as Shinji charged Azazel.
At first, he was simply… unimpeded, likely Azazel just not expecting such an utterly brazen sort of attack. Then, however, his comms came to life again.
"Heads up, Shinji!" Daniel said, clearly harried. "You've got airborne company! The last of the Zeruels and the Ptahiel are coming right for you."
Shinji skidded to a stop, Unit-01 turning to see the Angels coming towards him, Ptahiel in the center of a cloud of five Zeruels, glowing with waving appendages.
Shinji couldn't help but chuckle at himself. This, at least, he could do, ironically enough.
He began by switching his grip on the Lance, holding it overhand as he took a step forward, throwing the Lance at the nearest approaching Zeruel. It drove forward with unerring accuracy, brushing aside its AT Fields with ease before slamming into the core of the mighty Angel, sending it tumbling from the sky.
He pulled the Lance back with his AT Field, the weapon landing in his hand just in time for him to throw up a defense against the blasts that the Zeruels launched at him, gritting his teeth as he bore the weight of fire.
As the explosions began to clear, Shinji saw the Ptahiel diving towards him quickly, a bladed prow on its front as it sought to ram into him.
He suppressed his instinct to dash to the side for the moment, holding his AT Field steady against the barrage of the Zeruels.
'Closer… closer…'
In the moments before they would collide, Shinji calmly dodged out of the way, holding the blade of the Lance to the side as the Ptahiel slammed into it. Unit-01 took a step back, bracing the Lance as best he could as it began to cut through the body of the Angel lengthwise, a keening scream emanating from the Angel as hundreds, thousands of humanoid, but not human hands tried vainly to grab at him.
Finally, the weight of the Angel forced the Lance to stop about midway through the body of the Ptahiel, the rest of its body dropping limply to the ground as the limbs faded from existence. Shinji extracted the Lance with a grunt of effort, his AT Field refracting the beams of two of the remaining four Zeruels.
He launched a focused bolt of flame at one of the Zeruels, slapping away a sweeping hammer of an arm with a pulse of sound as he threw the Lance again at a third. Two hollow cracks escaped his notice as he turned to face the Zeruel he had batted away.
He reached out with his AT Field to the Lance, pulling it back in as he sidestepped two hammer blows from the Zeruel and directing it to tip end over end, driving the blade into the Zeruel's side and out the other end, bisecting the Angel as he continued the Lance's flight, turning to face the last of the Zeruels as the Lance followed his line of sight, ending its path in the chest of the Angel, the Zeruel keening softer and softer as it reached the ground.
Shinji recalled the Lance to his hand, then blinked as he surveilled his handiwork.
'I… I did this.' he thought in wonder, as he did every time he accomplished something as a pilot.
He turned, looking at Azazel with new eyes.
'I can do this.'
He returned to running, the massive Angel somehow growing larger and larger as he continued his approach. His eyes widened as he came within a kilometer of the beast, and Unit-01 skidded to a stop before he ran into an AT Field, no doubt from Azazel.
'Like that's going to stop me easily.' Shinji thought, setting his jaw as he slammed his own AT Field into Azazel's, the enemy Field flying apart to reveal yet another one. Then several dozen more behind it.
Shinji set his jaw as he swung the Lance at the Field, tearing through it and two or three others with an almost contemptuous ease. And so his pace was changed again, once again advancing step by step, swiping the Lance through those Fields he did not dispel with his own. Once again, Azazel slowly became larger and larger.
So it was easy to see it struggle to bring its one remaining Duotron Cannon to bear, dispelling the AT Fields it made as it fired. Shinji's eyes went wide as he threw up the strongest AT Field he could, deflecting the immensely powerful, brilliant red shot away from him before taking a deep breath.
It fired again before he could regain his bearings, Shinji jumping back as the shot barely missed him, the bolt of barely contained energy striking the ground and sending dirt flying with the explosion.
Shinji squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as the blast nearly blinded him. When he opened them again, they widened in shock as he saw a follow-up shot, curving impossibly to meet him.
It was by the slimmest of margins that he covered his core, his Plug, and his S
2 Organ with an AT Field as he took the full force of the blast. Any consolation that gave him was burned away with his armor as he screamed in pain, barely feeling himself be swept off his feet and sent flying, the Lance slipping out of his hand.
. . .
Daniel looked over at the nearly blinding scene as he heard Shinji's bone-chilling scream. "Shinji!" he shouted, hearing Asuka scream the name in fear alongside him. As the blast began to fade, he caught the sight of Unit-01 tumbling through the air, the glint of the Lance of Longinus flying away from him the only thing that tipped him off to Shinji not holding on to it as his Eva crashed into the ground, tumbling towards them for a moment before he stopped not 80 meters from their position.
The Angels he was fighting didn't really care for his distress, as Daniel barely parried away a Sachiel's slash before filling it with several stars, shattering its core. As the Angel fell like all its brethren did, Daniel felt the lightning bolt coming just too late to keep it from slamming into his back, Unit-00 arching in pain with him as he shouted, his vision beginning to white out.
And that was all the Sachiel that had replaced his fallen foe needed to catch him off guard, a glowing arm spike slamming into the left side of his chest. Straight through his S
2 Organ.
His shout became a scream as he clutched his heart, firing blindly at the Angels in front of him as the burning pain joined the pressure the Flux put on his arms and lower back, seeming to threaten at crushing them physically.
As he regained his vision, he watched a crystalline blade flash down, shattering the spike close to his chest as the other drove itself into the offending Angel. He took in as best he could in his painful delirium the messages that flashed across his vision. 'S
2 Organ Breached. Emergency Power Activating.' a timer for 15 minutes flashed into existence, counting down far too quickly for Daniel's addled liking.
Even as he tried to paw the broken spike out of his chest, he continued to fight. He had to right now. If he stumbled, if he fell, the whole line could be compromised. Everything could hinge on how he used these next… god, was it already 10 minutes? How long had that thought taken?
"Daniel?" he heard, muffled at the edge of his hearing as he pressed on, the timer passing out of thought, the pressure mounting as he felt the Frames in his arms beginning to crack from the Flux Crush. "Bruder? Daniel!"
He felt a hand on his shoulder pull Unit-00 back as he looked over at Asuka's screen, blinking. "Asuka. The line's going to collapse," he said, trying his best not to slur his words as his head pounded.
"The line doesn't matter anymore. We're pushing through to Shinji to make sure he's safe," she replied as Unit-02 grabbed a hold of the spike in Daniel's chest and pulled it out, Daniel lucky to not bite his tongue off from the gritted shout of pain. "How much longer do you have?"
Daniel forced his eyes open as he focused on the timer again, feeling Unit-02's arm across his shoulders as they began to walk backwards, Asuka holding the horde back with floating blades and a shotgun in her free hand. "Five and a half minutes." he finally said, pointing his weapon towards the Angels as well.
"How much Flux do you have?" she asked as they continued to back up, Daniel catching Mavuto, Mari, and Hikari in the corners of his vision.
Whatever excuse he might have had was swept away as Asuka strengthened her bond to his soul, her eyes widening before she scoffed and shook her head. "Damn it, Daniel. You're just as bad as me, sometimes." she scolded.
He felt her beginning to siphon off the Flux as best she could, the pain and pressure in Daniel's body beginning to lessen. "Honestly. Why do you have to push yourself like this?" Asuka asked.
Any excuse he could have thought of for that particular question was still out of reach as his mind felt like it was floating away from his body. "I'm not sure I know anymore," he admitted, his voice soft.
Asuka was silent as they breached the back line of the Angels, the rest of the Evas making a wall around them as Asuka set Daniel down beside the still smoking form of Unit-01. For having taken a blast from one of the most powerful weapons manufactured on Earth, it was in decent shape, the armor on its chest remade as the rest of the burns on its body were slowly shrinking and being covered over by armor.
Daniel didn't know how long he simply laid there beside Shinji, the timer reaching 2:47 before his S
2 Organ was remade and he began to vent off more and more Flux. The pain, however, remained.
He looked over at Shinji, the boy's face, twisted in pain as he breathed deeply, shuddering slightly, and couldn't stop the tears from rolling down his face.
'Damn it. He shouldn't be like this. I should have protected him.'
"The… the Lance…"
Shinji's pained gasp drew the attention of all for more moments or less. "Where is it?" he continued. "I lost it. Where is it?"
"In the lines of the Angels off to our right, liebling," Asuka replied, a grimace on her face. "Marie, Mana and Mayumi are off getting it."
Daniel pushed Unit-00 into a sitting position, seeing the explosions of water, ice and pure pressure tearing through the lines between Sanniya and Yasir's Evas.
"I… I'll take it back once they get it," Shinji said, Unit-01 sitting up as well, it's familiar helmet, sans horn for the moment, almost done forming.
"Shinji, neither of us are in any condition to carry the Lance right now." Daniel began. "I'm not going to toss you into Azazel's-"
"No, Daniel," Shinji interjected, the force in his tone surprising him. "I made a promise to you. To the others. I've been through worse. I can finish this."
Daniel took a deep, slow breath as he slowly got Unit-00 to its feet, the pressure on his body nearly gone as he looked out at Azazel, now even more restrained with its remaining cannon pointed to the sky, then back down at Unit-01. "Alright then," he said quietly, reaching out one of Unit-00's hands. "Let's finish this."
Unit-01 took the proffered hand, the Eva getting unsteadily to its feet as they looked off to the side, seeing the three Evas Asuka had sent dashing towards them, the Lance in Rocketeer's hand as they fell in behind the defensive half-circle.
"How many Angels do we have left here?" Daniel asked as he watched Unit-01 take the Lance from Marie.
"Couldn't be more than three, four hundred, now," Marie replied. "We've been remarkably thorough in the last few minutes."
Daniel nodded. "Then I feel confident enough to leave the rest to Godzilla, the moths, and the
Cataphract. Azazel needs
all of us to take him down."
"How's that work, then?" Mari asked, looking over at Azazel. "Lilith seems to be holding him down just fine."
"Not enough to get through all its AT Fields," Shinji interjected. "It will bog us down with those."
"Exactly." Daniel nodded. "Lilith needs to be dispelling all the AT Fields, and I don't think it can accomplish that while restraining it. Which means we're going to need to do that job."
He saw everyone's eyes widen at the prospect. "That's…" Toji said slowly. "A lot you're asking of us, Daniel."
"Perhaps we needn't be the only ones working towards that goal," Kaworu replied. "If I can contact the Angel's soul trapped within Azazel, it could cause some internal havoc long enough for us to accomplish our part of the mission."
"Then get on that," Daniel said. "Inform us when you've done it, then we'll charge this thing. At least, those of us who aren't going to be playing close escort to Shinji."
"And who would those be?" Mana asked as Kaworu's brow furrowed in concentration.
"Asuka, Rei, Kaworu," Daniel replied. "We need our strongest AT Fields covering him if Azazel pulls something new out. The rest of us will charge ahead once Kaworu gives the word. All clear on that?"
A chorus of affirmative greeted the question, and Daniel nodded as Asuka, Rei and Kaworu drew close to Shinji. "Good. Everyone facing the Angels back up slowly until the word is given. Then turn and charge with me."
He turned his focus to Lilith, connecting his soul with Suriel's and giving her the details of the plan without a word. He felt her apprehension, then her acceptance, glad to know that they were ready over there.
"Alright, Kaworu. It's your go now."
. . .
Kaworu nodded absentmindedly, his Sight focused on the utterly bright, chaotic cluster of souls that was within the body of Azazel.
'Whoever you are,' he thought silently as the view grew larger and larger without him physically moving,
'here I come.'
With that, he dove silently, stealthily, into the cage that was Azazel's soulscape.
Immediately, he was battered almost physically with the cacophony he heard, the sound of the millions of souls still within Azazel almost abandoning any pretense of musicality to his ear, the sound more resembling the screaming and shouting of the souls of some terrible damnation. An observation which, he mused, was not far off the mark, as the souls swirled around him freely in a far cry from the orderly, almost peaceful place within Lilith.
It made his search rather difficult, all things considered. But, if nothing else, it also made escaping the notice of SEELE, obviously in charge and quite above the teeming mass of souls, terribly easy as he went further and further into the depths.
Even as he searched as best he could, looking for the familiar black coating that Kadmonel had said was a special shell put over the Angel's souls, the din threatened to drive him mad. His focus wavered more than he cared to admit, and he found himself having to take himself back to task more than once. But the utter maze before him…
Then, he heard it. Utterly soft, utterly despondent, deep within the confines of the space they were all in. Kaworu dived
past everyone, the noise beginning to fade as he reached a partition, a cage of familiar, black Frames.
Within it, much to his equal dismay and delight, was the original owner of the body, buried under those sable Frames that kept all else away from it.
"Hello?" he said tentatively as he reached out and connected with the Angel, waiting for an answer. When none came, he reached out with his own Frame, strengthening the connection of their souls.
What came next passed by without words. Simply an understanding of who each was, and why they were here.
The Angel had lived a long life, first and seemingly last of his progenitor's creations before… something happened. A great and terrible something it could not comprehend that had made his progenitor go silent. Then, for the longest time, he was alone.
As the world transformed around him, the stars remained the same, always the same in their patterns, and he was utterly entranced by them. Ages would pass on the rising mountaintops that had, on his mind, recently formed as he stared up at them.
Eventually, little things made their way into the mountains as well. They seemed more busy than he was, making things to go in and out of and bringing other, different little things with them. They drew his attention from the stars for a few moments, each time he looked down a different vista.
They left him things, sometimes, glittering, glistening things. They didn't matter much to him, but they seemed to matter to them, so he did not make much of a fuss over it.
After what to them must have been a long time, he felt something… connect to him. One of the little ones below, an old man named Hastranah. How did he know that?
He then understood the plight of those beneath him. That they were beginning to fear him. That they were preparing to try and destroy him. That it saddened this old sage who had grown up casting wondering eyes towards him his entire life.
It was a moment before he decided what to do. For even as he loved the ever brilliant stars, he'd grown fond of these little humans and their oddities. So, gaining a knowledge of death, which Hastranah knew would soon greet him, he came up with an idea.
Burrowing into the earth, saying one last goodbye to the stars, he sequestered himself, and went into that deep sleep which could only mimic the endless, yet transitory thing that he had seen within Hastranah. And thus, Kokabiel passed from the world.
"I see," Kaworu said.
"We need your help. Please, free yourself and rise up against those who have taken your body from you."
There was apprehension as Kokabiel's answer, clearly afraid to potentially harm those odd little humans he'd come to care about should he make a mess.
"There's much to learn about the world. Much has changed." Kaworu replied as he filled Kokabiel in on the most pressing matters.
"If you care about humanity, help me save it from itself."
It was a moment where Kaworu waited with bated breath. Then, the Frames of the Angel began to retract, the cage it had made around itself retracting as it turned its focus on SEELE, disappointment and anger beginning to ripple through Kokabiel's Frames.
Kaworu smiled slightly.
"Thank you. Good luck."
With that, he withdrew from the soulscape, taking a deep breath as the Frame Plug of Unit-06 came back into being his surroundings. He looked out at Azazel, watching closely.
It twitched. Then it twitched again, eventually shuddering even under the grip of Lilith.
"Now! Kokabiel's fighting SEELE!" he said, caring little if the other pilots understood the finer details of his statement.
. . .
Daniel looked out at the bound and jittering Azazel, a fire kindling in his eyes as Kaworu gave the word. "Alright, everyone. Let's not waste any more time.
Go!"
As one, the Evangelions charged, thundering across the battlefield as they prepared their AT Fields for anything that might get in, or be thrown into, their way.
"Suriel!" he said as he reached out to Lilith with his soul and relayed what relevant information he could give on the Angel within Azazel. "Drop your binding on it! We'll take care of picking up the slack. Just focus on nullifying its AT Fields. All of them!"
She assented without a word as the prismatic net draped over Azazel faded from view, the Angel's shuddering becoming stronger as they approached.
"Mari, Mana, Mayumi, take the African, EU, Russian, Nordic and Arabic pilots over to its left." Daniel began as they drew closer. "Focus on digging its claws into the ground and lashing down its wings. I'll disable its other cannon before I help Toji, Hikari, and the others tie down its left. Don't waste any time in making the bindings as strong as possible. I don't know how long we have."
A chorus of compliance replied as the groups of pilots began to split off from each other, Daniel's gaze drawn to the shaking Duotron Cannon that was yet silent.
"Nynrya, how big can your blades get?" he asked as he considered how, exactly, to render the gun that had wounded Shinji silent.
"As large as you need them to be," Nynrya replied with an air of satisfaction, and two rapidly growing blades shot into the air from behind him, picking up speed as they made an arrowhead aimed unerringly at the barrel of the cannon.
Daniel smiled grimly as the blades tore through the metal of the gun with ease, shearing the construct in two as a massive explosion rocked Azazel to the left. A massive AT Field from Lilith steadied the flailing beast, setting it upright again.
Then, they were under the Angel, as close as they could probably ever get. Immediately, Daniel felt the rumbling of Toji's Interfacing at work, catching a mighty vine quickly reaching up for Azazel's blade from the corner of his eye as Hikari sent a lash of light towards the blade as well.
He wasted no time contributing as he threw a line of linked stars towards the claw arm, the starry chain wrapping around the blade as Toji's vine and Hikari's rope of light reached it, and they began to pull, the arm shuddering as the tip slowly came down more and more, the pilots nearly shuddering themselves from the effort.
Daniel glanced up at the wing, grateful to see sheet-like AT Fields from the other pilots wrapping around the wing and holding it in place as they did their work.
His focus returned to the blade as its hooked tip grew closer and closer to the dirt.
'Come on…' he thought as he pulled just a little harder.
'Almost there…'
The shuddering subsided. Then, Azazel pulled on its arms, a thundering roar escaping from its gigantic mouth as it strained against its restraints.
Daniel rooted himself to the ground as he pulled against the blade. "Our easy window has closed, everyone," Daniel said through gritted teeth. "Put your backs into it now!"
Whether or not there was anyone that replied to him didn't matter as he strengthened the pull of his chain, a spike of fear driving itself through his chest as he watched Mari and Mana's feet leave the ground, Mayumi straining all the more for a moment as they failed in the air before they landed, and rooted their feet to the ground.
"Tail on our left!" Marie shouted, and Daniel looked over at the rapidly approaching tail whipping towards them, blades glinting in the sun.
Daniel raised an AT Field on instinct, Toji and Hikari's joining his as the tail slammed into the wall, bouncing back. "Floro, Bianca, lock that tail down!" he said. "Orien, Marie, you'll have to strengthen yours to compensate for the moment. We'll help you when we've got this blade locked down."
"Got it!" the two South American pilots replied, dashing towards the tail as it prepared to swing to the other side. Orien and Marie's brows simply furrowed deeper as they focused all the more.
Daniel's focus went back to the blade, again shuddering as it tried to break free. "Come on…" he muttered as another chain of stars appeared in his other hand, joining its counterpart as he pulled. Toji and Hikari followed his lead, another rope of light and several more vines springing into existence and lashing onto the limb. And slowly, but ever more surely, the blade began to drop again.
Daniel's jaw was clenched, his brow beginning to drip with sweat as the blade came closer and closer to the ground. As it drew nearer and nearer, he grew a small sheathe of crystal around the hooked edge, shaking as it was.
Finally, the tip of the blade pierced the soil, sinking several meters into the earth. Toji and Daniel were both ready, a sheathe of wood growing up around the blade even as roots of diamond raced into the depths of the earth. Hikari tightened the binding with bands of light all up the trunk of what was turning into an honest to goodness tree, branches and leaves sprouting near the base of where the blade met the arm.
Daniel took a deep breath as he stepped back. "Toji, Hikari, do you think you can keep this up?" he asked.
"We'll do it for as long as we can," Toji replied. "But this jerk is persistent about getting itself unstuck."
"Alright." Daniel nodded. "I'm going to go help Floro and Bianca secure that tail."
Before he could continue, a scream that was cut off part way through drew his gaze to see the body, or more specifically, the parts of the body of Cavaleiro-Verde flying away before he tsked softly. "Make that just Bianca, then. I hope he got out okay." he finished with a grimace before Unit-00 began to move off. "Either way, I think we're almost ready for the main event."
. . .
Shinji still felt the burning sensation from his brush with Azazel's Duotron Cannon all across the front of his body, flaring up slightly whenever he moved. It made helping the others, who were keeping themselves busy fighting the remaining Angels behind them, somewhat difficult.
So, he contented himself for the moment with working with the others by using his AT Field, acting in concert with his copilots to strip the AT Fields from a cluster of Angels somewhere within the ranks before the
Cataphract, keeping a close eye on things, sent its regards in the form of a missile strike screaming down from orbit.
Already, he could make out the side they had come from as they passed through the Angels. How many could be left, he wondered, especially as he watched Mothra and Battra sweep across the line, beams and bolts of energy slamming into the Angels as Godzilla slowly made his way up the line with them, seemingly heedless of the punishment he was taking as it healed more and more quickly with Kaworu's assistance.
"
Alright, Shinji!" he heard Daniel say, exhaustion beginning to tinge the man's voice. "You and yours are up!"
Shinji turned, and his eyes widened as he took in the sight before him. Azazel's blade arms were covered over as they were rooted to the ground, the left side looking like it had plunged its arm into a tree, the other like a sheet of frosted over metal had been wrapped around it. It pulled at its restraints, seemingly in vain. At least for the moment.
"You ready, Shinji?" Asuka asked, Unit-02 stepping back and extricating itself, Rei in Unit-05 doing the same.
Shinji nodded, a steadfast look in his eyes as Kaworu turned to stand by his side, Unit-06 crouching slightly into a runner's stance. "Yes," he said firmly, sure that the reflections Rei said would cover their initial start were appearing. "Go!"
The four Evangelions, four of the first pilots of the god-machines that defended this world, sprinted towards the closest thing that they could have ever had to the devil, the thunder of their footfalls a drumbeat of defiance that was almost, but not quite, drowned out by the challenging roar of the Angel.
As they ran, all four pilots keeping an eye on the Angel trying to break free, Asuka's eyes widened as they all saw a massive, likely Evangelion-sized chunk of sharpened Corite launch up into the air from well behind Azazel, making a graceful arc towards them at a worryingly rapid pace.
"I've got it!" Asuka shouted, throwing her AT Field up in front of them as the Corite missile slammed into it, shattering dramatically even as they saw the next three heading towards them.
"I hope you don't have to get all of them, Asuka," Rei said, her brow furrowed in concentration as she sent a bolt of glass to knock one off course, the projectile impacting the earth and burying itself there.
"Of course not," Asuka replied, a similar bolt of metal lancing out to shatter the second one entirely, their AT Fields protecting them from the rain of crimson crystals. "After all, what are friends for?"
"Um, friends," Kaworu interjected somewhat awkwardly as he guided the last projectile out of the way with his AT Field, "I hate to possibly be the bearer of bad news, but… how much time does it take to travel five kilometers?"
Shinji blinked, his focus pulling back from the missiles that were coming towards them one after another and to Azazel itself. After a moment's inspection while dodging away from a falling piece of Corite, his suspicions were starting to become more probable by the second. "We aren't moving," he said aloud.
"Wait a minute," Asuka said incredulously. "Does that mean it's messing with
space like Daniel does? All without an Aspect Core? That's insane!"
"It's what we're facing right now," Rei said somewhat ominously. "We must find a way to overcome it."
"Daniel!" Shinji said, unmuting his link to the man in question. "Did you hear the others?"
Daniel nodded. "I'll see what I can do. Hold on!"
. . .
Daniel, having returned from staking the tail into the ground, held the wings with shackles of garnet, emerald, and sapphire that all flowed into one another as he looked out at the Children that tried to approach. Surely enough, he saw the signs of spatial distortion, a lensing of the ground and air in a great sphere around them that almost, but not quite, hurt to study for too long.
He reached out Unit-00's hand, focussing as best he could to unravel the effect that Azazel had placed on the Children. But… it was like trying to move a mountain with that hand alone, pushing against the will, however coerced, of millions and millions of souls.
"Nynrya…" he called out after a moment's futile effort.
"Help me. Please."
She said nothing, simply connecting to him again and lending her strength. Daniel felt the power flowing through him causing the field to waver for the briefest of moments.
Daniel's jaw clenched even as his eyes began to water.
'Come on… I… I can't do this. No. No, I need to do this.'
He felt the tears beginning to roll down his face once more as he faced his helplessness and found himself again lacking, even as the glowing blade branded on his head mocked him for the power he once wielded. The power that could save them.
'I… I need more help.' he admitted to himself.
"Wish granted."
Daniel blinked as he heard Eleanor's voice ring through him, then gasped at the millions of souls he became linked to, all directed to help him. It wasn't the power he wielded as the Hollow Saint. But my, it certainly came close.
He wiped the tears away and focused again as he watched the spatial distortion wavering more and more, the rippling growing in speed and intensity until at last the cage around the Children shattered, and their Evas began to move forwards again.
"You've got this, Shinji!" Daniel shouted almost joyously. "Save the world!"
. . .
Shinji was beginning to share in the joy he heard in Daniel's voice as they finally began to make progress again, the Angel looming larger and larger, his friends by his side keeping him safe as he readied the Lance. He couldn't afford to throw it, risk it losing its way if Azazel pulled some other trick out of thin air.
'Just a few more steps…'
Azazel roared again, a roar of frustration and anger, emotions that he saw reflected on Lorenz Kihl's rapidly more discernible face as they twisted it into a mask of almost impotent rage.
As the Angel roared, the light blue, almost teal jewel in its mouth began to glow with an inner light that built in intensity. Shinji's brow furrowed as he raised his AT Field to deflect whatever attack might come, feeling the others with him doing the same.
The light in the jewel became bright, almost blinding, then… the world disappeared into that light, forcing Shinji's eyes shut.
As he opened them again, his eyes widened with shock to see that everything, everyone else… was gone, a desolate land of flames and a shared sky filled with dark clouds crushing in on him. The other pilots, the other Angels, Godzilla, Mothra and Battra, even Lilith itself… all gone.
Now, it was just him and Azazel. An Azazel no longer bound by anything or anyone. An Azazel that was focused only on him. An Azazel that seemed to freeze him in place with its very gaze, his body, and thus the Evangelion he controlled, rooted to the spot.
Fear and sadness and guilt flooded into Shinji's mind, screaming at him to run away, to hide, to do anything that wasn't throwing himself away against impossible odds even as it pressed the tears out of his eyes and sent them spilling over his face. How could he beat this? How could
anyone stop this now?
'No.' a tiny, but growing part of his mind answered.
'No. I made a promise to Daniel. I made a promise to everyone. If it's the last thing I do… then damn you!'
"Damn you, SEELE," he whispered as he set his mind, his very soul, to moving forward again. "Damn you. Damn you!" he shouted, nearly screamed in rage.
With those words, Unit-01 took a slow, shuddering, unsteady step forward, then another, then another, feeling like he was pushing against a massive current as Azazel came closer and closer.
Time passed out of meaning for the moment as he set one foot in front of the other, his focus entirely on the face of the man who had thrown his humanity away to doom all others who held on to theirs. If it was the last thing he would do, it would be to wipe that face out of existence.
Then, he blinked as the world fell into shadow for the briefest of moments. Suddenly, the world around him shattered, the current that pushed against him disappearing as the world came back into focus.
The image of a seemingly triumphant Angel was replaced by the reality of Lilith's massive spear shoved into the jaws of Azazel, the crystal from which the light had come from shattered, along with more than a few teeth.
"Go, Shinji!"
He blinked, looking down to see a comm screen linked to Central Dogma. From beyond the edges of the frame, he heard the shouts, the cheers of the bridge technicians. Within its bounds, he saw the First Lieutenants, Ooi and Mogami and Agano standing from their stations, saw Ritsuko and Ryoji by their side looking up at him with worry and hope in their eyes.
But in the center of it all, he saw Misato. Saw the flickerings of joy amidst the anxiety and hope that battled on her face, felt her overwhelming support and love without even having to look upon her soul.
"You can do it! Make the miracle we need! Make it with
your hands!" she shouted, and Shinji nodded, looking back up at Azazel. Powerless. Open.
"Asuka! Kaworu! Rei!" he said as he linked with their souls and began to run again, overjoyed that they were still at his side even as he readied himself. "When I give the signal, launch me!"
Asuka laughed out loud, tears of joy flowing freely from her face. "My darling idiot! There's a plan I thought only I could come up with! We'll be ready!"
Rei and Kaworu nodded as they grew ever closer, now only a kilometer away from Azazel. "Yes, Shinji." Rei said, a smile on her face. "We'll be ready."
They came closer, 900 meters now. 800. 700. The Corite missiles came screaming in more and more, their number and size growing as the four Evas approached. Most now, however, were simply flying over their heads as they simply ran past their mark. 600. 550.
"Now!" Shinji shouted, and he felt his friends, his family's, AT Fields spring to life under his feet, catapulting Unit-01 into the air as they reached 500 meters.
Shinji almost felt the wind in his face as he flew, the Lance of Longinus held out in front of him as he aimed for a point between Azazel's massive horn and its mouth.
The distance closed in an instant, and Shinji almost missed the look of shock, of utter fear, that plastered itself on Lorenz Kihl's face. But only almost.
He slammed into Azazel, the blades of the Lance biting deep into the pallid flesh of the Angel. It roared in pain and anger, but the roar began to quiet as the Lance began to take hold of the body, finally falling silent as Shinji simply let go, floating gently to the ground, Unit-01's feet touching the earth as Azazel fell silent and still.
It was utterly silent for a heartbeat as they all looked up at Azazel expectantly, anxiously waiting for something,
anything. Then another heartbeat passed. Then another.
Then, everyone's comms erupted with cheers, shouts of joy and commendation, and praises to heaven in several different languages. They had done it. He had done it. The world was saved.
. . .
In Central Dogma, the atmosphere was no less jubilant, tearful hugs and cheers and high fives abounding and echoing in the massive room.
On the command bridge, unnoticed and uncared for, Misato pulled Ryoji into a deep, passionate kiss, the world melting away for a moment as they melted into each other's arms.
As they pulled back, Ryoji chuckled softly.
"What is it?" Misato asked as she wiped tears from her eyes.
"Now that we've gone through all the stress of saving the world," Ryoji replied as he began to chuckle, "now we get to go through a whole new world-ending situation."
"Oh?" Misato's brow arched as a bemused expression began to grow on her face.
"Now we get to plan a wedding," Ryoji said drolly.
Misato rolled her eyes. "Maybe the world
should have ended, then," she said with what was mostly sarcasm.
Ryoji simply laughed before he pulled her in for another kiss.
- - -
Evangelion Bay 3, HERZ-Matsushiro, 2 Hours Later
Asuka was nearly thrumming with joy as she shut down her Frame Plug, exiting it was quickly as she could as she deactivated her Plugsuit, revealing the uniform underneath as she nearly dashed out of the bay, turning towards where Unit-01 was going to be and sprinting towards Bay 7.
On she went, bursting through the door as she saw Shinji deactivating his own Plugsuit, their eyes meeting in an instant.
Without a word, she charged him, enveloping in a hug as she took him into a deep kiss, Shinji responding in kind as time and the rest of the world passed out of care and reckoning.
They didn't know or care how long it had been before their lips parted again. "Shinji," Asuka said, tears welling in her eyes as she chuckled. "My rookie, saving the world all by himself." she nearly whispered.
"With a little help, of course," Shinji replied, tears of joy in his own eyes as well.
Asuka chuckled again. "But of course. After all…"
"We win together," Shinji said without hesitation. "And…"
He paused as he blushed slightly. "Remember that question you asked on Christmas day?"
Asuka's brow furrowed for a moment before her eyes went wide and her cheeks flushed pink. "Yes?" she said slowly.
"I know the answer," Shinji said surely. "Long enough to get married to you. Wherever you go, I'll follow. And I want to be with you… forever. As long as you'll have me."
It was silent in the bay for long moments, and Shinji began to shake slightly from the anxiety. Then, Asuka chuckled, tears welling in her eyes. "Well, I hope you don't expect 'as long as I'll have you' to be short in any way, Shinji Ikari."
Shinji's eyes went wide, and a smile slowly grew on his face. "Good," he said quietly. "Because I don't."
With that, he pulled her into a deep kiss. There were people waiting for them, they were sure. But they could wait a little longer.
- - -
Theisman Residence, Tokyo-3, January 1st, 2017
"After that, it was a pretty quick mop up concerning the rest of the Angels. It looked like they'd been stunned for a few minutes following our neutralization of Azazel. We're in the process of getting everyone out of Azazel and bringing the members of SEELE to justice on the world stage." Daniel said as he turned to walk over to the couch, sitting down with a sigh and taking Eleanor's hand as he looked back up at the still standing form of Sovereign Chandra. "And… that's the gist on how we saved the world."
Rachna Chandra smiled slightly. "Look at that. My darling children saving a world together again. It's so sweet, I could vomit." she said drolly as she chuckled softly.
Rachna took a deep breath as she composed a mask of seriousness. "Well, now that you've gone and done that, I'm going to tell you something that you probably won't like, Daniel."
Daniel blinked as he looked over at Eleanor with no small amount of confusion, Eleanor sharing his expression. "And… what would that be?" he said slowly.
"I'm going to put you, the both of you, on leave from your duties as Worldstriders until I damn well say so," Rachna said bluntly.
She sighed quietly before continuing. "Daniel, if you've got enough lost puppies trying to find you to be able to form a fan club within our up and coming partner organization, then it looks to me like you need to relearn what honest to god long-term gratitude looks like."
A look of apprehension began to grow on Daniel's face. "We need to contain the Scion revival as soon as possible, though." he began. "We know where they are, and how dangerous they can be-"
"Which is why I wasn't utterly idiotic enough to not send scouts to the location you two provided," Rachna interjected. "They're our best ones. And you'll be the first ones to know if anything major happens."
Daniel closed his mouth and was silent for a moment. Rachna took that moment to close the distance and put her hands on his shoulders, Daniel feeling the haptic system of the projector go to work as she shook him slightly. "Read my lips, Daniel:
take a fucking break. Am I understood?"
Daniel nodded slightly. "Yes, Sovereign."
Rachna said nothing, simply arching an eyebrow.
Daniel sighed quietly. "Yes, Rachna," he said with a slight smile.
Rachna nodded. "Good," she said with some satisfaction as she stood straight again and walked back to her original place in the middle of their living room. "Now, I'm going to make sure of that when I get out there in the next…" she puffed her cheeks and waved a hand slightly. "However many months it's going to be. It's been too long since I've stretched my legs more than walking too and from my office. I'll be meeting with the head of the Outriders, and we both agreed that a world where both our forces managed to keep things relatively safe would be a nice location to first officially talk together."
She pointed at Daniel with a warning glance. "If I don't find that you've kept either of your overly courageous asses right there, I'm going to be rather cross with the both of you. Got it?"
Daniel and Eleanor both gulped softly. "Yes ma'am." they both said seriously.
Rachna chuckled. "Good. I'd better be seeing you whenever I get out there."
With that, the image of Rachna Chandra faded away, leaving Daniel and Eleanor, for the moment, alone with each other.
After a moment of contemplative silence, they looked at each other.
"So," Eleanor said slowly, a wry little smile on her lips, "what would you like to do with our vacation time, dear?"
Daniel scoffed slightly. "I'd hardly call it a vacation, Eleanor. There's still HERZ to work for, after all. That's a laundry list of things that need doing anyway."
Eleanor nodded slowly. "Maybe. But Rachna's point still stands."
She shifted herself to face Daniel, a serious look in her eyes. "I'm not letting you leave these kids after all we've been through without so much as a goodbye."
She paused for a moment, a thoughtful expression falling over her. "Unless you want to ask them the question?"
"Not yet, dear," Daniel replied, putting a hand on Eleanor's shoulder. "Hell, the kids need the time off more than we do, I think."
"But it doesn't rule it out," Eleanor said matter of factly.
Daniel opened his mouth, then closed it silently. "It's a matter of when, not if, I'll admit," he assured her. "But… I want to let them live somewhat quietly for a while before I ask."
"I can accept that," Eleanor said quietly, leaning on Daniel's shoulder. "For now… let's just get some rest before we go over to Misato's place."
Daniel put an arm around Eleanor's shoulder with a smile. "Let's," he said quietly.
And the room, along with the world, for the moment at least, was at peace.
