Aozaki Aoko [688-689]

Chapter 688: Beast Senpai, Unit-02

The battle within the cavern beneath NERV Headquarters was still raging fiercely. By now the Angel of Strength had descended to roughly two to three hundred meters above the ground, using its Absolute Field compression ability to suppress Unit-02.

In fact, if Gray and Asuka released their quasi-divinity and combined it with the EVAs' inherent performance, they could forcibly offset the Angel of Strength's Absolute Field. But that would defeat the purpose; now was not the time to expose their true capabilities.

Unit-05 ignited the A-type equipment's jet engines, sprinted a short distance, then took off straight from the ground, brandishing a fully deployed pseudo–Spear of Longinus and charging directly at the Angel's main body.

"Taste the power of a knight's charge!"

Gray, brimming with emotion, used the knightly arts Artoria had taught her to wield the lance in her hands, converting flight momentum into impact force to pierce the overbearing Tenth Angel in one blow.

But the foe she faced was neither a windmill nor a flame-belching dragon. It was the mightiest messenger of God, descended from heaven, sworn to mete out the harshest punishment upon mortals who had committed original sin.

A colossal impact resounded through the entire underground cavern. The spinning tip of Gray's pseudo-spear rapidly drilled through the outermost layer of the Angel of Strength's Absolute Field, and the shockwave shattered countless nearby structures.

Yet the reason this Angel was called the strongest "repulsion type" was that it rejected all external interference. Its Absolute Field's strength and regeneration rate surpassed those of all other Angels.

After the first layer was broken, layer after layer of Absolute Fields slammed back into place, trying to block the pseudo-spear's thrust. Even so, the fast-spinning bifurcated spearhead still pierced through more than a dozen layers of Absolute Field in one breath, nearly reaching the Angel's red core.

Perhaps that strike provoked the Tenth Angel into a stress response. This time it reassembled its Absolute Field with uncanny speed, and, coordinating with a cross-shaped beam, used the beam from the inside to shove the stacked, compressed fields outward—blasting the spear-wielding Unit-05 far away.

"Waaah!"

Gray was flung about in the cockpit, head spinning. Unit-05's equipment suffered extensive damage, especially the A-type gear on its back; it likely wouldn't be able to take to the skies again until repaired.

The only good news was that the N2 reactor was intact, so Unit-05 could still fight semi-permanently without an umbilical power cable.

"Impossible! The pseudo-spear can't break through the Tenth Angel's Absolute Field?!" Misato Katsuragi in the command center was stunned. In previous battles, including against the Eighth Angel, the pseudo–Spear had been nigh unstoppable.

"A replica is still not the real thing. Compared to the true Spear of Longinus, the pseudo version has limits…" Ritsuko Akagi said gravely. "I'm afraid Units 02 and 05 alone can't defeat the Tenth Angel. Where are Shinji and Rei?"

"They're on their way, but they'll need some time to reach HQ!" Misato replied. "Let's hope those two can hold out until then…"

"Fuyutsuki, I'm stepping out. I'll leave this to you."

As if remembering something, Gendo rose from the commander's seat. After a brief word to Kozo Fuyutsuki, he took a single-person lift and left. Fuyutsuki merely glanced after him, then turned his attention back to the two European-branch EVAs engaged in fierce combat with the Angel.

At this moment, the one engaging the Angel at close range—replacing the battered Unit-05—was Unit-02, which had discarded its ranged weapons and taken up a thermal cone.

The thermal cone was an EVA-exclusive weapon independently developed by the French branch. Its operating principle somewhat resembled a soldering iron used in circuit work, but its material strength was in a different league entirely.

The tip of the long cone lit up in Asuka's hands, glowing a dangerous orange-red, proof that it had reached a terrifying temperature.

Unit-02 dragged the thermal cone's power cable as it charged the Angel, which had already landed. At just the right moment, it leapt from a rising platform, traced a graceful arc, then brought both hands down hard, driving the cone toward the Angel's core.

But, unsurprisingly, the attack was stopped by the Tenth Angel's overwhelming Absolute Field. The manifested field expanded to cover nearly half the underground cavern, blasting away the surrounding artificial forest in an instant. Even Misato, deep in the underground HQ, felt the violent tremor.

"It's not over—take this!"

While keeping up pressure with the thermal cone using her back-mounted thrusters, Asuka fired all the metal spikes hidden in her shoulder pylons, nailing them into the piled-up field.

But that level of attack was still insufficient to crack the Tenth Angel's defense. On the contrary, the pressure prompted it to marshal even greater energy, accelerating the stacking and compression of its fields.

At the critical moment as Unit-02 and the Tenth Angel deadlocked, the previously flung Unit-05 rushed back. Wielding two roaring chain-axe saws, it hacked at the Angel's "back," a dishonorable "sneak attack" that relieved some of Unit-02's pressure.

Yet although Unit-05's chain-axes neutralized the field on the weaker side through the surprise strike, the blows that landed on the Angel's body did not produce flesh and blood—only showers of sparks like clashing metal.

Misato was stunned. Normally, once an Angel's field was neutralized, its body was little different from a normal biological organism and could not withstand human weapons. But this Tenth Angel was different. Was it because of those bandage-like structures shrouding its body?

Indeed, Misato's guess was right. The Tenth Angel withstood Gray's chain-axes thanks to its "bandages"—but these "bandages" were not merely defensive. They were its limbs and weapons.

Sensing Gray's threat, the Tenth Angel "unbound" its bandages, transforming the two strips into ultra-sharp blades that slashed at Unit-05.

"Not good!" Misato cried out, tense. In her eyes, that motion was a lethal finisher.

But Gray—who inherited Artoria's bloodline—also possessed the King of Knights' inherent skill, "Instinct."

 Though the incomplete blood in Unit-05 made her reactions slightly slower, she still preemptively performed an evasive maneuver.

Even so, the Angel's killing strike severed Unit-05's right leg and left arm, temporarily robbing the olive-drab giant knight of combat capability.

"Hmph, looks like I'll have to play another trump card." Asuka jumped back to gain distance and spoke over comms. "Gray, fall back. I'll take it from here!"

"Time to show you Unit-02's power when it abandons the human form…" Asuka stood up in the seat, stretched slightly, and uttered the secret voice command: "Mode change—BACKCODE: THE BEAST!"

Chapter 689: The Beast's Defeat

"Unit-02 has a function like that?!" Makoto Hyuga stared at the main screen, astonished. "I've never heard of it!"

On screen, Unit-02 hunched low. Numerous restraint bolts ejected from within; as blood sprayed, the whole body trembled and underwent a full transformation.

Its hands became claws, its ordinary legs reformed into a digitigrade, catlike reverse-joint structure, and a gaping mouth—freed from its faceplate—sprouted razor fangs. The tailbone even extended into a tail!

Now, rather than a "General-Purpose Humanoid Decisive Weapon," Unit-02 had been completely transformed into a massive crimson leopard. It roared and lunged at the Tenth Angel, moving so fast that even the Angel's ribbon-like limbs couldn't track it.

"Though… this state… is kinda rough…" Green light flared in Asuka's eyes as she seemed to endure something. "It's… a necessary… price!"

In Beast Mode, Unit-02 discarded the umbilical cable entirely. But its internal batteries, modified by the French branch, were no longer the five-minute joke of old. Even at this intensity, it could fight for at least fifteen minutes!

"Insertion plug depth has proactively entered the negative band. Degree of mental contamination unmeasurable!" Shigeru Aoba reported loudly. "All values are beyond spec! No good—this is too dangerous!"

Misato gritted her teeth as she watched. She didn't want Asuka to take this risk, but with Unit-05 out of action and the pilots of Units 01 and 00 not yet arrived, this was indeed the only choice.

What's more, Unit-02—previously under constant pressure—was now, in Beast Mode, fighting the Tenth Angel to a standstill.

Controlling the "leopard" form, Asuka leapt and shattered over a dozen layers of Absolute Field with a single claw. But the Tenth Angel, going all-out, immediately regenerated a dozen more, locking the tempo into a stalemate.

Unit-02 repeatedly slammed the Angel's defenses, but could not break through that final "paper-thin" layer. The Tenth Angel, growing impatient, retracted its two ribbon-like limbs and then snapped them forward, attempting to end the vexing beast in one strike.

But Asuka and Unit-02's reaction speed had changed drastically. With a single backflip, she dodged the killing blow. The Angel's attack sliced the small hill behind them into several sections, a testament to the sharpness of its limbs.

The assault didn't end there. The Angel's eyes flashed violently, and a powerful cross-shaped beam lanced toward the airborne Unit-02 before it could land—a flawlessly fluid combo.

"You think that's enough to stop me?! Nyaa—!"

Asuka roared. Unable to maneuver freely midair, Unit-02 opened its blood-red maw and clamped down on the Angel's beam—biting it and holding it fast!

Just what form did the Angel's cross-beams take? It had long been a fascinating question, and today finally brought an answer.

Some Angels might be able to fire sustained beams, but the Angel of Strength's cross-beam was undoubtedly a high-energy particle sphere.

And that sphere—explosive enough to annihilate New Tokyo-3—was forcibly caught in Unit-02's jaws and crushed!

Blown back by the beam, Unit-02 charged again, weaving past successive shots, then opened wide and, like a starving wild beast tearing the plastic off human-packaged food, ripped away the Absolute Field layer by layer.

Sensing this could go on forever, the Angel retracted all of its ribbon-like structures of varying lengths, then suddenly fired them, sealing off every vector of Unit-02's movement.

In the command center, confidence had surged at Beast-Mode Unit-02's overwhelming display. If there was any worry, it was whether Unit-02 would remain uncontrolled after slaying the Angel and cause collateral damage.

But the Tenth Angel's gambit worked. Those seemingly weightless "ribbons" became the sharpest blades, severing Beast-Mode Unit-02's limbs.

Although Asuka—modified by the Key of Nebuchadnezzar—had a pain threshold far beyond normal humans, with the EVA's synced arms and head severed, she was suffering terribly in the plug. The ionized LCL boiled like a cauldron, bubbling incessantly.

Aoko's prepared magecraft and magic activated immediately, swiftly alleviating Asuka's pain and treating the injuries caused by neural synchronization.

"Your work is done for now," Aoko's voice echoed in Asuka's and Gray's minds. "It's time for the protagonists to take the stage. Rest for a bit."

Unit-02's mangled remains and blood were tossed onto the cavern floor. The Tenth Angel slowly rotated, ignoring the defeated foes, and turned its gaze toward the pyramid-shaped NERV HQ.

"How… even Unit-02, which completely abandoned the human form for greater power, failed… Is this the end for humanity?" Ritsuko muttered, voice trembling.

Another merciless cross-beam. This time it destroyed the pyramid superstructure of NERV HQ. Though the command center and EVA cages were deeper underground, with the "lid" gone there was no way to stop the Tenth Angel's direct incursion.

…

"Why are you rejecting me, Yui!"

Down in Unit-01's cage, Gendo, who had been repeatedly attempting to boot the dummy system, gnashed his teeth at the unresponsive Unit-01, tormented.

He didn't know when his unlucky son and "daughter" would make it back to HQ. If the Angel reached Central Dogma before then, everything would be lost.

Whether his own plan or SEELE's Human Instrumentality, the result was the same: humanity would lose all seats and dissolve into nothingness.

"Father!" Shinji shouted near the plug access, pulling Ayanami Rei by the hand. "Please let us pilot!"

Gendo glared coldly at the determined-eyed boy. After a moment's silence, he gave the order:

"Switch Units 01 and 00 from dummy-system profiles to pilot profiles. Sortie immediately. Exterminate the Angel!"

With the command received, the two split and sprinted to their EVAs. They didn't even have time to change into full plugsuits before entering their plugs and beginning rapid startup of Units 01 and 00.