Chapter 208: Did You Learn It? This is Called Tactics

With a single order, the entire Earth became bustling with activity.

Profit.

This is the benefit of preserving the old order. Heads of major powers, aware of certain secrets, thought SEELE had a change of heart, wondering why they were suddenly going all-out against the Angels. Of course, this aligned with their own interests. In the original timeline, they were like fools, being used for nothing, and by the time they realized it, it was too late. Throughout the entire process, apart from being blasted into the sky by the Angels in various ways, they had no presence at all. The various countries didn’t know about the “Human Instrumentality Project,” and their initial intention from the start was to fight the Angels and continue human civilization. Facing this kind of order, they naturally cooperated with all their might.

More and more N2 warheads were sent up to armed satellites. Heavy electromagnetic cannons dragged from laboratories were hung on giant transport planes, flying at tens of thousands of meters in the air, crossing the atmosphere to attack the Angel.

Precision strikes weren’t needed. After all, the Angel was huge; just throwing trash at it was enough. Nor was it necessary to penetrate the AT Field; it was only necessary to consume the Angel’s energy. Under Shinji’s leadership, the style of combat was forcibly changed from a one-on-one duel between a giant robot and a monster into an all-out war and war of attrition. And these two types of warfare were what the Astartes were best at.

Average people only notice the Astartes’ love for decapitation (leadership strikes), but they overlook the preparatory work before the decapitation. Even a certain Second Captain needs a massive amount of friendly forces to attract attention.

[Third attack wave reached]

[Fourth attack wave starting, Angel has movement reaction]

[MAGI analyzing trajectory, sent to the Fifth Field Army via data link]

Shinji sat on the commander’s seat. Here, at the high point of the command headquarters, the view was excellent. He could see the busy NERV members below. This place was like a central nervous system, mobilizing the armed forces of the entire world. Without the data link and MAGI assistance, the UN forces would only be able to fire blindly.

This was the true value of Tokyo-3. Previously, in order to control NERV, SEELE never gave up command. In Shinji’s view, that was too stupid. In other words, this was a planetary defense center. During the seven great campaigns, Shinji had once taken over a similar command hub.

Unlike Gendo Ikari, who was always posturing in the same way, coldly watching his subordinates, Shinji often adjusted deployments or personally issued orders. The military forces of the entire Earth were deployed with extreme efficiency.

‘This is so weird. Are we still EVA pilots?’

Asuka looked at the youth in front of her, then at Rei Ayanami on the other side. Shinji hadn’t issued any orders, so they had nothing to do. They could only put on their plug suits and stand on either side of Shinji like handmaidens. The latter hadn’t changed into that tight plug suit; he just sat upright in the commander’s seat, wearing the “Power Armor.”

It must be said, contrasted against the loyal power armor, Shinji had a much stronger sense of oppression than Gendo Ikari’s posturing. It was just like how Asuka knew this was very strange, yet she didn’t dare to move a muscle.

“Look, the Angel has started to make evasive maneuvers. The S2 Engine can’t withstand this kind of saturation bombardment. That’s why I often say, there are no useless or obsolete weapons; the key is how you use them.”

Shinji occasionally taught them from his experience, receiving different feedback.

“Mmh, forcing the Angel to play its hand first allows one to hold the advantage.” Rei Ayanami learned very seriously.

“Humph, do you know how many billions of US dollars were spent just now? It’s literally burning money in an incinerator.” Asuka, as usual, was unconvinced.

Shinji glared at her. She was like rotten wood that couldn’t be carved. At a time like this, she was still worried about money. Yet he also felt it was a bit strange.

“Asuka, why are you unusually quiet today? Before, you would have been impatient and wanted to pilot Unit-02 to attack.”

‘Err, I just feel panicked looking at that Bird Angel.’

Asuka, of course, couldn’t say she was afraid of the Angel. She rolled her eyes and changed her story: “I’m not an idiot, of course. I’ve learned a lot from you. The Angel’s strongest point is its ‘Authority’ (power/domain), just like that Music Angel last time. Attacking without figuring out the Authority is easy to get ambushed by them. This Bird Angel has been slow to use it, which shows the Authority is no small matter.”

Shinji widened his eyes, looking at Asuka with a stranger’s gaze, and only after a long while did he nod with gratification.

“Not bad, you’ve grown.”

Asuka gritted her teeth, thinking: ‘I’m not that embarrassing Misato, why do you treat me like a daughter?’ But a moment later, she discovered that Shinji was easy to fool; a different explanation could make him praise her.

“Cough, cough, is the next step to force it to use its Authority?”

“Of course. The Angel has no concept of patience; it’s a mutant that acts on instinct. Even less so will it investigate how much ammunition humans have. As long as it judges that this continuous attack will break the AT Field, harm its main body, and affect its final mission, it will definitely counterattack.”

“A mission? That’s a bit like you.”

“I am an Angel of the Emperor to begin with, so I can understand these mutants. Life and death are far below the mission; all actions revolve around the mission.” Shinji taught patiently, then paused slightly.

“Of course, with self-Instrumentality, I don’t have such pure motivation anymore.”

Asuka didn’t notice the pause in Shinji’s words and frowned, saying: “If that’s the case, won’t the UN forces be in big trouble? They are the ones on the front line.”

“Appropriate sacrifice is necessary.” Shinji half-closed his eyes, appearing cold and ruthless. “I need sacrifice to obtain intelligence, thereby performing analysis and formulating combat plans.”

In his view, there was no such thing as “I will protect everyone.” Every victory in a battle stems from the joint efforts of every part, and also implies necessary sacrifice.

“Hey, you wouldn’t even sacrifice me, right?”

‘Why do you love asking such troublesome questions?’

Shinji moved the corners of his mouth, hesitating for a moment before saying: “If necessary, anyone can be sacrificed.”

“You!”

Asuka’s eyes widened, wanting to give this steel-headed idiot a slap from behind, but she withdrew her hand when she saw the armor, fearing she would break her own bones. At the same time, she was secretly happy—this idiot actually hesitated.

‘No, even if he hesitated, he still thought about sacrificing me. What am I happy about?’

Asuka’s conflicted state of mind aside, there was a new change on the Angel’s side. Nobody knew how many rounds of attacks had passed, but the Bird Angel, which had been treated as a sandbag, finally couldn’t take it anymore.

As Shinji predicted, no matter how high the AT Field intensity was, the S2 Engine had exceeded the critical point. If this continued, before it saw its main target, it would have its defenses breached by the “trash” thrown by mortals. Tactical application must always be below the mission.

This was the same as how Astartes would switch to decapitation whenever they encountered a bitter battle; for that one percent success rate, they were willing to pay a hundred times the price.

[Angel detected special energy reaction] [Target, Third Aviation Wing]

Shinji raised his head instantly, seeing the Bird Angel shoot out a gorgeous band of light, directly piercing the atmosphere and shrouding the aircraft formation.

There were no screams, nor were there any explosions of fire. It was as if the attack were just a phantom, leaving everyone staring at each other.

‘That’s it?’

Just as the thought arose, they discovered the Third Aviation Wing had disobeyed orders. They turned their aircraft around, and a shrill alarm sounded within the command headquarters.

[Fire control radar illuminating, Third Aviation Wing has pointed targets at us]

“Damn it, are these bastards confused? Contact them immediately! They are attacking friendly forces!” Misato, who had been busy commanding the troops, shouted. To deal with the Angel, every aviation wing was loaded with weapons of mass destruction.

Those hydrogen bombs exploding in space was one thing, but if they exploded in the city, what then?

“No, they cut off all communication! Missile launch!”

The big screen immediately showed a dense mass of light points flying toward Tokyo-3. Misato Katsuragi made a prompt decision.

“Activate the self-destruct program. Air defense forces, shoot down the Third Aviation Wing for treason.”

The battle immediately turned into a siege of friendly forces. Nuclear warheads exploded over the Pacific, causing indigenous people on deserted islands to stare blankly at the mushroom clouds rising in the sky. But the attack on the Third Aviation Wing was not executed.

Humans have emotions. Who wanted to take action against their comrades-in-arms? They kept calling out on various frequencies, but it was useless. The aircraft formation was accelerating toward Tokyo-3.

“So that’s it. Is it mental control? No wonder it didn’t attack those armed satellites. This is an attack specifically targeting humans.”

Shinji had already figured out the Angel’s Authority and immediately ordered drones to intercept. He had no interest in watching the dogfight between the two sides. Friendly fire sieges were commonplace to him; whoever opened fire on him was an enemy.

“This is aimed specifically at the EVA,” Ritsuko Akagi whispered. All EVAs were currently piloted by humans, and the Bird Angel had an attack specifically targeting humans. “Usually, the Angel’s Authority is proportional to the AT Field level. I’ve calculated it; the intensity is very exaggerated. It doesn’t exclude it being able to use beam irradiation to further strengthen it.”

The light band covering the Third Aviation Wing was large in diameter, but it could concentrate tenfold against a single EVA.

‘Specifically aimed at me, huh? The last Angel of the original script? Of course, I have to present the best effect. Nothing is better than completely controlling me, the only psyker.’

Shinji thought a lot. The intelligence of the negative universe’s will was strengthening every second, and of course, it understood that this shortcut was full of risks. The Astartes was uncontrollable and had deviated from the necessity set by it.

The best way, then, was to completely master him. In this way, it would inevitably be born without risk. But the negative universe’s will hadn’t expected Shinji to be so cautious—if he didn’t figure out the Angel’s Authority, he wouldn’t dream of leaving this underground.

If he had foolishly jumped out, he would have probably been controlled long ago. But how could such a thing happen to an Astartes Librarian?

‘A game of chess, huh? Interesting.’

“The attack range and power of mental erosion are inversely proportional. Similarly, its mental erosion intensity is directly proportional to distance. At least in outer space, it cannot directly shine into this underground fortress. It’s like a sunshade; the multiple layers of armor above our heads can isolate the Angel’s irradiation. Otherwise, it would have done it already.”

‘Thank God, this damn armor finally had an effect.’

Misato didn’t know why she wanted to complain. The 20+ layers of armor plates that the headquarters had spent a huge amount of money to install had finally come in handy.

“The EVA cannot launch. Are we just going to wear it out like this?”

“You’re thinking too much. This is a game of chess. I can force it to reveal its Authority, and it can force me to go out.” Shinji’s expression was extremely cold. Just as Misato felt something was wrong, the Angel reacted again.

[Detected special energy reaction, coordinates 020, 335]

“Ah, these coordinates…”

“The Pacific Third Fleet. It seems they got a taste of victory from the Womb Angel. I use Earth to oppose the Angel, and it returns the favor in kind.”

No one spoke. This was an unsolvable problem. As long as the EVA dared to launch, it would immediately be mentally polluted. Judging by its goal, it was feared that even Unit-01 would be hard to resist.

But if you chose to play the coward, the Angel wouldn’t be in a hurry. It could slowly take control of human armaments and turn them against the turtle shell. MAGI had already calculated it: if the Bird Angel were willing, it would only need to irradiate a large city for three seconds to make millions of people go mad.

One must know that on Earth, only Tokyo-3 had a perfect underground shelter.

In this silence, Shinji suddenly spoke: “Unit-00, Unit-02, Unit-03, stand by. Unit-01, prepare to launch at the L3 exit. Rei, go get the Spear of Longinus.”

“You’re going to launch? Didn’t you say it was coming for you?” Asuka immediately grabbed Shinji’s arm. She knew this idiot was going to act tough again.

“If I really have to risk it, if not me, who? Relax, I’m not as incompetent as you think.” Shinji gently pushed her away and looked at Rei Ayanami, who was conflicted. Under his gaze, the girl had to turn and execute the order.

“You want to use the Spear of Longinus to kill it in one blow? I’m afraid it’s not that easy.” Ritsuko Akagi was obviously much calmer, blocking Shinji and saying: “It knows you have this spear. It’s impossible to let the Angel come to its death in vain. Furthermore, if you throw it from the ground, it will take 15 seconds to hit, and you will be a large target while you are powering up.”

The Bird Angel could dodge, it could attack first, and it could even intercept with the aviation wings it controlled. Any slight deviation would be a thousand miles off the mark, let alone issues like recovery.

“How about I be the bait?” Asuka gathered her courage and stood out. Seeing everyone turn to look, she puffed out her chest: “I have Mom protecting me; it’s not that easy for the Angel to control me. Then, Shinji, you can take the opportunity to stab it to death.”

“Very courageous, but too reckless. Who knows if the Angel can attack two targets? Whether it will lose the ability to dodge while attacking? If it does, what is the margin of error? How many orders of magnitude will the consciousness reflection slow down? How many dummy targets need to be set?”

Asuka blushed red.

‘Damn it, even fighting with your life has so many tricks to it, huh? You’re clearly so strong, just how cautious are you?!’

Professional people do professional things. Brute courage is something only Khornate maniacs do. Shinji was very disdainful of this behavior based entirely on bravery, so he waved his hand at Misato Katsuragi and the others.

“I have already input the new combat plan into MAGI. Later, you all respond quickly and go all-out to analyze the problems I just mentioned.”

Shinji turned around, walking toward the hangar with heavy, thumping footsteps. Wearing the power armor, he sat in the entry plug. Yui Ikari immediately teased him—so this was the power armor he kept thinking about? It looked quite magnificent, but wearing this thing was a bit strange.

“To this extent, I don’t care about the slight bonuses brought by the plug suit. Mother, we are in combat now; don’t drag Rei into this.”

Shinji interrupted his mother’s teasing, his expression focused, not wanting to talk about side quests.

“Alright, alright, we’ll talk about you two later. But aren’t you uncomfortable wearing the armor? The control handle must be hard to grip.”

“Later I will have the logistics department make it larger. As for uncomfortable? Mother, this power armor, filled with glory, even without combat functions, makes me more loyal and calm, as if I have returned to those ten thousand battles.”

Shinji saw Unit-01 move onto the electromagnetic rail. The armor above its head opened layer by layer, and from the skylight, he saw the blue sky.

“The Angels today have indeed become smart and powerful, but in my eyes, they are no different from newborn children. Do you know what the Angels are lacking?”

Whoosh.

Unit-01 was catapulted out. Exclamations immediately rang out in the communication channel.

[Energy reaction detected. Shinji-kun, it’s coming for you.]

As expected, just as Unit-01 left the cover, the azure sky was pierced by a dark red beam of light. This thing didn’t carry any physical damage, but it could penetrate the AT Field and the EVA alloy armor, irradiating directly into the depths of the pilot’s inner heart.

Yui concentrated her energy, but before she could release the AT Field, the electromagnetic rail under her feet was already actively detonated. Pulled by gravity, Unit-01 fell back underground at a faster speed.

Pressing her palm against the surface of the channel, she leaped into the intermediate layer.

That beam of light brushed past Unit-01 and shone into the depths of the underground, failing to cause even the slightest mental pollution.

“What they lack is this experience of surviving ten thousand battles.”

Shinji’s combat didn’t have much of a hot-blooded atmosphere. Calmness and planning were the hallmarks of an Astartes. You want that kind of blood-and-guts, shouting, frantic battle? Sorry, turn right and go to the Brass Throne; the maniacs there are one more hot-blooded than the other.

Knowing the Bird Angel was coming for him, yet thinking he could crush everything by facing the enemy directly—arrogance is arrogance, but it’s too unprofessional. Arrogance is the original sin. The corpses of such fools he had seen were higher than mountains.

‘Aren’t you coming for me?’

Unit-01 launched immediately, and the moment the Bird Angel attacked, it hid back underground. Layer upon layer of armor plates closed, shading the gorgeous radiance. And that momentary contact allowed MAGI to calculate at full speed, while Ritsuko and dozens of scientists quickly analyzed it.

“Confirmed: mental pollution intensity and irradiation range are inversely proportional. The energy reaction from that moment was 11.37 times stronger than when dealing with the Third Aviation Wing.”

“We found that the Bird Angel’s Authority had been specialized against the AT Field. Even with Unit-01’s intensity, it was almost penetrated just now. No, it seems the AT Field didn’t produce a defensive effect… it bypassed the defense like a ghost.”

“I am certain the Angel is indeed coming for you. No wonder it stayed in Earth orbit. I have already calculated the Bird Angel’s trajectory; it has always been staying above Tokyo-3.”

Listen carefully. War has never been a desperate fight depending on hot-bloodedness, anger, and frantic shouting; it is an extremely scientific and profound discipline.

‘So that’s it. My psychic energy and the Machine Spirit overlapped. Unit-01’s AT Field is too strong, so it chose an unconventional path.’

Shinji could roughly understand this tactic and admitted it was reasonable. So far, the one with the strongest physical combat power was the Bardiel (Unit-03/Power Angel), and wasn’t it torn apart by him? Instead, the Leliel (Night Angel), Arael (Bird Angel), and Armisael (Womb Angel) were somewhat troublesome.

‘Not bad. It’s not stupid enough to fight to the death in the area the enemy is best at; it knows how to exert the advantages of its Authority.’

Unit-01 was strong, but it didn’t have miraculous Authority. This was indeed attacking with long points against short ones. But how should one say it? He who piloted Unit-01 was even stronger—all-round strong.

“Open the G3 exit. Prepare for the second experiment. Precision-tune its reaction speed to the second.”

Dropping this sentence, Unit-01 plunged forward and ran wildly toward the other end. The underground fortress was connected to the ground through dozens of exits. Usually, EVAs were sent to the battlefield this way, and there were channels between those twenty-three layers of armor plates.

Having fought so many Angels, the coordination was already extremely tacit. Unit-01 jumped out of the channel, the elevator was already waiting there, and the ground in the center of Tokyo-3 cracked open.

Thump.

Unit-01 stopped at the edge of the channel, seeing a cluster of psychedelic light shining in along the ground exit, forming a red white gauze in front of him. This speed was so fast that the command headquarters couldn’t even report it.

“Reaction speed is extremely fast. Is it staring at this city with complete concentration? What a pity, I have psychic precognition.”

Shinji half-closed his eyes, feeling in great form today. Sure enough, this heavy power armor was his own specialized combat suit.

“Ritsuko, how’s the situation?”

“Angel’s reaction speed is 1.2 seconds. It is staring at you. The Third Aviation Wing has not returned to normal and continues to engage the drone swarm, but it has not continued to attack the UN forces.”

“One irradiation forms permanent mental pollution? But it lacks multi-target processing capability.” Shinji nodded gently, understanding at last. Aliens are aliens after all. If it were him attacking, he wouldn’t even look at Tokyo-3 at all; he would directly control the troops exposed on the Earth’s surface and start an all-out war.

“Has the new detector reached the coordinates?”

“I have already communicated with NASA; it has reached the coordinates.” Ritsuko already knew the Bird Angel’s special attack against humans and immediately sent unmanned machines to ‘bully’ it.

“Good. Find its core location. Unit-00, Unit-02, and the Positron Cannon, prepare to charge.” Shinji pressed the joystick and continued to run in the intermediate layer. “Open the F7 exit.”

“Understood, F7 exit opening.”

The Unit-01 that was just in the city center had already gone to the shore of Lake Ashi. But this time, the Angel didn’t launch an attack first. Obviously, it was also learning, trying to crack this shameless tactic of ‘I’m out, I’m back in.’

“It’s not so easy to let you crack it.”

Unit-01 jumped onto the elevator. The beam of light still hadn’t shone down. The Angel was clearly waiting for Unit-01 to leave the channel and launch an attack when it had nowhere to retreat. But as a newborn child, its learning ability obviously wasn’t fast enough.

“Rei.”

Unit-01 was sent to the ground by the electromagnetic catapult, but on the way, a black-gray painted EVA had already been waiting. Shinji, of course, couldn’t let Rei Ayanami suffer mental pollution; he just stretched out his hand and took that crimson Spear of Longinus.

The moment he took the spear, the detection satellites already spread around the Angel immediately detected a high energy reaction.

[Angel irradiation, intensity 12] [Quick, seal the exit immediately]

The red beam of light shone onto Unit-01, but the next moment it was blocked by layers of emergency-sealed alloy armor. The electromagnetic catapult also stopped, and Unit-01 stagnated on the elevator.

“Ikari-kun, are you okay?” Rei Ayanami immediately climbed up.

“I’m fine. Sure enough, it’s a specialized Authority, bypassing the AT Field to act directly on the soul. If it were Kensuke, this 1.7-second irradiation would be enough to keep him in the psychotherapy room for half a year; exceeding 5 seconds would directly scrap him, turning him into an autistic child from then on.”

Shinji recalled the feeling of that moment just now. This couldn’t be described in words. It was also different from Leliel (Night Angel) or Bardiel (Power Angel) controlling the soul by creating illusions. That was a pure kind of mental pollution—what is commonly called throwing shit at you.

Even for Shinji, with the iron heart of an Astartes, he could hold on for a long time. But shit is shit after all; he also needed time to wash it clean. Moreover, if it gets pickled into the flavor, trying to cover this stench is quite troublesome.

“Then what about me? How long can I hold on?” Rei Ayanami followed up and asked.

“Your soul is special; 30 seconds should be no problem. But don’t think about acting tough. This kind of mental pollution is more troublesome than losing limbs; your temperament will change drastically.” Shinji pursed his lips. He couldn’t describe the feeling just now; he only felt disgusted. What the Astartes feared most was mental pollution.

They could tolerate being blasted into minced meat by artillery fire, but they couldn’t accept being polluted by Chaos.

“Ritsuko, it can be confirmed that the Spear of Longinus will cause the Angel to react. This thing is a living creature and will emit a signal.” Shinji looked at the crimson spear in his hand. He didn’t know how the original world line solved the Bird Angel, but at this moment, the Angel was already countless times smarter.

The original version of the Angel might have recognized this spear, but it wouldn’t have had any reaction, and might have even foolishly taken the initiative to greet this spear that radiated a sense of intimacy.

The current Angel was much more agile. Shinji had launched an attack the moment he gripped the spear, knowing absolutely that he couldn’t let Unit-01 throw the spear.

“Mmh, I have results on my side too. The Angel cannot move while launching the irradiation, but just now the Third Aviation Wing climbed to high altitude at full speed.”

“It wants to intercept?”

“Probably. The Bird Angel knows the Spear of Longinus has a fatal threat, so it waited for you to go up just now. Once Unit-01 got the spear, it didn’t wait a second longer.” Ritsuko was surrounded by a group of gray-haired old men. These were all experts in various fields.

“The Angel is learning. The simplest way is for you to throw the Spear of Longinus while under irradiation. With Unit-01’s strength, it will most likely be unable to intercept.”

“That way I have to increase the output. By then, the Spear of Longinus will be directly inserted into the lunar surface. With current human technology, how can it be recovered?” Shinji shook his head. After all, he wasn’t a Tech-priest; he couldn’t rapidly elevate human civilization in a short period of time. Moreover, he vaguely had a feeling.

This spear wanted to escape his control. As the igniter of the final ritual, it absolutely must not be lost. Letting it attack the Angel autonomously, now that the negative universe’s will was gradually awakening, was far too risky.

“Deploy according to the third contingency plan. I won’t give it time to learn. If this continues, maybe it will find the correct solution. I will teach it what is called the combination of virtual and reality, what is called a feint and a main attack.”

Woo-woo~

A sharp alarm sounded throughout Tokyo-3. From the lakeside to the foot of the mountain, from the city to the suburbs, the hidden protective doors opened one by one, revealing dozens of dark, hollow exits.

The Bird Angel hovered in space orbit. If it had wisdom, it was truly a bit annoyed by Shinji. This Unit-01 was full of tricks like a loach, forcing itself to expose quite a few details. Like playing Whac-A-Mole, often just as it raised its hammer, the target would hide back down.

But it had to hit it; the enemy would take its life in an instant. Just when the Angel was preparing to pollute more humans to form a defensive line, all the earth holes opened up, forcing it to focus its attention again.

The orange-painted EVA, holding a giant Positron Cannon, was catapulted to the ground. The Bird Angel didn’t launch an attack. It knew that when it activated its Authority, this EVA would hide back down again. And the moment it attacked, that main target would launch a fatal blow.

‘Where is it?’

An invisible field of vision swept across the earth from outer space, but only discovered another crimson-painted EVA appearing by the lake. It also raised its muzzle. Asuka and Kensuke wouldn’t sit idle. With the help of the auxiliary sights, they locked onto the Angel hundreds of kilometers away.

The electronic beam headed toward space. Even considering energy attenuation, it was much more powerful than those previous armed satellites. In the pitch-black space, two thick positron beams appeared instantly.

Shoo! Shoo!

They hit the wall of light.

[AT Field appears, failed to penetrate]

“Asuka, you missed. Calculate the atmospheric refraction parameters. Kensuke, you adjust the fire sector directly according to the MAGI data.”

“That’s easy for you to say!” Asuka gritted her teeth, pulled the bolt, and stuffed the second ultra-high-energy storage device into the chamber. At this time, the azure sky suddenly turned blood-red, and a cheerful melody sounded in her ears.

[Mental pollution wide-area irradiation, intensity 3]

The Bird Angel countered. It felt the threat of the Positron Cannon to itself. But Unit-00 and Unit-02 were too far apart, so it simply used wide-area irradiation, shrouding both EVAs within it.

Even if it was only a quarter of that used to deal with Unit-01, this pollution was extremely terrifying. Unit-00 dropped its weapon on the spot, struggling with both hands holding its head, unable to suppress it. Asuka was slightly better; she only felt irritable and upset. The noise in her ears made it impossible for her to concentrate, let alone aim accurately.

‘Ode to Joy? Why Ode to Joy? This sound is so annoying!”

Fortunately, this round of irradiation only lasted for a moment. The beam of light that had originally shrouded half the city gathered, and like a searchlight, its brightness increased tenfold.

[Mental pollution irradiation, intensity 13]

“Shinji, it’s coming for you!”

Unit-01 crawled out from underground under the mountain. The moment it left the exit, this “light” shone over. Obviously, this was the Bird Angel’s main target. Unit-00 and Unit-02 didn’t count for anything at all; letting them fire ten shots might not necessarily break through its defense.

Shinji didn’t say a word. Several Mach rings unfolded behind his back, letting this steel giant rush out like a wild horse losing its reins. Facing this irradiation descending from space orbit, speed didn’t play much of a role. Even if you were at ten times the speed of sound, a high-altitude attack only needed a slight adjustment of the angle.

But he had psychic precognition and was one with Unit-01. Quick stop, changing direction, accelerating. His eyes were fixed on the beam of light following him. This thing occupied every geographical advantage; it wasn’t that easy to avoid the irradiation, but the meaning of tactics lay in resolving disadvantages.

“Unit-03, move out.”

On the other side of the city, Unit-03 appeared on the surface, holding a crimson long spear in its hand. Rei Ayanami raised her head coldly, locking onto the Angel in space. And in this instant, she felt herself touch an invisible gaze.

The Bird Angel overlooked the earth, monitoring all threats in Tokyo-3. It could see Unit-01 dodging around like a loach, Unit-00 and Unit-02 picking up the Positron Cannon again after no longer being irradiated, and naturally, it wouldn’t miss Unit-03 holding the Spear of Longinus.

In just an instant, Unit-03 was ranked ahead of Unit-01.

Looking at the beam of light that pierced the firmament like a Sword of Heaven, swept across the earth, and shot straight toward it, Rei Ayanami bit her lip tightly and raised the Spear of Longinus high, as if all the foreshadowing was just to let her launch a fatal blow.

Thump, thump, thump.

Unit-03 stepped out. The released AT Field caused the air to distort. It took a few steps facing the oncoming beam, leaning forward in a throwing posture.

Too slow. The Bird Angel on space orbit ‘saw’ it clearly. Its Authority would hit the target first. Under the influence of mental pollution, this fatal strike would lose its aim. Even if the Spear of Longinus attacked autonomously, it would use the humans it had previously polluted to intercept it halfway.

Furthermore, would this god-slaying long spear take the initiative to attack me?

“H-Area blast! Quickly!”

Boom—

Just at the moment when the beam was about to hit Unit-03, the earth disintegrated, making the rushing Unit-03 step into nothingness. Pulled by gravity, it fell toward the underground, and the Bird Angel’s mental pollution just brushed past it.

The Angel didn’t know what it meant to be astonished. It spent a fraction of a second analyzing the battlefield situation, refocused its gaze on the other side of the city, and discovered that those three EVAs hadn’t taken the opportunity to hide back underground.

Unit-02 and Unit-00 simultaneously raised their Positron Cannons. Through the first round of shooting, they had already adjusted the shooting parameters. The cross-shaped aiming frame focused on the center of the shadow, while Unit-01 ran wildly along the mountain road.

It stepped on the ground until it cracked, tore the forest to shreds, and kicked up a large amount of dust, as if stepping on stairs as it accelerated toward the mountain. Its raised right hand firmly gripped another long spear that popped out from underground.

Its specifications were exactly the same as the Spear of Longinus, only the whole was purple-black, the double-forked spearhead twisted like a stranded rope, forming a sharp tip.

Pseudo-Spear of Longinus, a counterfeit made by SEELE at a huge cost. Its strength was naturally unable to compare with the original, and it didn’t have the biological, autonomous tracking ability. But what Shinji trusted most was precisely this kind of simple weapon.

Thump, thump, thump, thump…

Unit-01 ran to the top of the mountain, ignoring the irradiated beam of light. It stepped heavily, the powerful AT Field almost causing the entire mountaintop to sink several meters, and just like that, it flew high into the air.

Two positron beams shot out from the east and west sides of the city, breaking through the firmament toward deep space. That straight line of light was like guiding the path ahead.

‘Not enough, still not enough.’

Unit-01 had already flown up, but its legs were still taking steps, as if stepping on invisible stairs to go to the sky. And the highest intensity mental pollution had gathered on the surface of its body.

That indescribable feeling of nausea and irritability gushed out from the depths of its heart. In a trance, Shinji actually heard music playing in his ears.

‘Ode to Joy?’

He took a deep breath. Amidst the roar of Unit-01, he suppressed these emotions. His right hand gripped the long spear tightly, and he slammed his body forward.

Go!

Trampling the mountaintop, stepping up a thousand meters high, he threw the long spear with full force. The firmament was shattered by it. In the blink of an eye, it flew out of the atmosphere. And in front, it was precisely a continuously trembling wall of light.

The two maximum-output Positron Cannons were blasting against the AT Field. This field, which was stronger than the Bardiel’s, wasn’t so easy to penetrate. But when the two were at a stalemate, a fresh force suddenly joined the battlefield.

The AT Field wobbled even more violently, obviously exceeding the critical point. But the Bird Angel, which was irradiating Unit-01, couldn’t move. It didn’t even know what was going on.

Clatter.

Just holding out for one second, as the positron light annihilated, that counterfeit shattered the obstruction and directly pierced the Angel.

No blood spurted from that huge light and shadow. The Bird Angel couldn’t understand that it had created such a huge virtual image, so how did humans accurately hit its core? But all this had no meaning anymore.

The light and shadow with four pairs of wings collapsed toward the center in a vortex. Just as it had appeared suddenly, in the blink of an eye, it disappeared without a trace.

“What did you think those many detection satellites were for? You want to eat the Spear of Longinus? Do you deserve it?”

Shinji raised his head, using his psychic energy to repeatedly confirm that the negative universe rift had subsided. The massive Unit-01 stood in the sky at an altitude of a thousand meters, as if it had the ability to fly. In an instant, he didn’t even bother to take a look, and under everyone’s gaze, like a god, he walked down from high altitude.

“Did you learn it? This is called tactics.”