"Therefore, please destroy me."
Kaworu Nagisa's words ring over and over in Shinji Ikari's head as his Eva grasps Kaworu's lean, fragile human body in its fist. He is an Angel. He is an enemy. Therefore, I must kill him – but! He is human too, just like me. And he was my friend! Even though he betrayed me, even though that hurts, I… I…
Emergency sirens sound throughout Nerv Headquarters, right down to Terminal Dogma.
"What's happening?" asks Dr Ritsuko Akagi.
"The Human Instrumentality Project… it has been triggered ahead of planned time and… there seems to be an error!" Major Misato Katsuragi replies, flustered.
"The screen!" Maya Ibuki cries. "It's showing… it's showing…"
"Seas of Dirac spontaneously opening at random intervals all over the world," says Ritsuko.
"Damn it Seele! Damn you all!" exclaims a desperate Gendo Ikari. "While the last Angel is still alive? Damn you!"
"Instrumentality error, instrumentality error," a robotic voice repeats in Terminal Dogma. Shinji watches in horror as an inky shadow expands underneath, enveloping and sucking Eva-01, as well as the collapsed Eva-02, into its grasp.
Above in room 303, Asuka Langley Soryu is pulled from her slumber by the mess of sirens and screams. However, her consciousness remains tiptoeing the fragile borderline between sleep and wakefulness. In the confusion, a vision of her beloved Eva-02 hovers above her head. Slowly, her eyes widen and fill with disbelief as her Eva, the source of her pride and joy, appears to sink into a bottomless pit of darkness. Something she has hoped she would set foot in once again, even after her synchronisation ratio with it has dropped to 10% and Kaworu was ordered to replace her.
A shriek resounds throughout the room, deep into the dark sea below. "My Eva!" And while Asuka cannot see or feel it, her limbs are somehow dissolving into this same shadow. She passes out from the shock, and the rest…
"You are brave soldiers," proclaims Commander Erwin Smith, leader of the Survey Corps, as he looks on at the few who chose to remain. "You have my heartfelt respect."
Suddenly, a boom is heard in the distance. Erwin and the graduates quickly turn to look in the direction to see smoke rising.
"Don't tell me it's a Titan that fell with a meteorite," says Connie Springer.
"Deploy forces in the direction of the smoke immediately!" Erwin orders.
The Survey Corps uncover something they've never seen before – two gigantic humanoids, one purple in colour and the other red, almost as tall as the Colossal Titan, seemingly having come out of nowhere. However, they are immobile and non-sentient, and are assessed not to be immediate threats. They are not Titans, as they have retained their form for an extended amount of time, whereas Titans rot into skeletons – then nothing – very soon after death. Within the "hand" of the purple humanoid, the Survey Corps recover a boy with grey hair about the same age as the graduates. A dark brown-haired, slightly younger boy is found inside a cylindrical structure within its head. Two girls about his age, one with red hair and the other with blue, are found atop the red humanoid. The four children are unconscious, but their breathing remains regular and their pulses strong. The Survey Corps are ordered to take them into custody.
"I cannot believe this Captain Levi!" Hange Zoë exclaims, completely unable to hide her excitement as she dances around. "We actually get to look at something other than Titans! Maybe even… do experiments on them? W-ow! I am blessed! Yip-yip-hooray! Ya-hoo…"
"Calm down, we do not yet know of their dangers," Levi replies stoically. "However, in the best-case scenario, we are also yet to know of how they can benefit us."