To S. v. Ingolschen

You are needed at the Abtei von Stettin-Drei. A map and directions are attached. Once you get there, you will be greeted by my maidservant at the Löcknitz Road. She is unmistakable; you shall understand how.

Whilst I regret disowning you and sending you to the Military Frontier, it had to be done. That stage in your life is now over. "Qui ostendisti mihi tribulationes plurimas et adflictiones conversus vivificabis nos et de abyssis terrae rursum educes nos". (1) Although even in reference to Croatia that is probably exaggerating a little.

Long live the Catholic Emperor Maximilian II, forever August,

Fürstabt G. v. Ingolschen

Siegfried looked again at the letter. After three weeks on horseback, several ill-advised "shortcuts", and some inns that made him long for the relative comfort and good smell of a stables, he was finally at the outskirts of the "abbey" his father was "abbot" of. In fact, the area was as bustling a city as the original Stettin where he had been in that morning; it definitely was smokier. It was also quite a bit more ramshackle than Stettin; as it was built only after Second Impact it had no cathedral and the wall was little more than a stockade. In his last visit five years ago, Siegfried had found his father and all the monks, nuns, priests, etc. living in a complex of apartments near the Stettin road. So much for apostolic vows of poverty.

Now what? The letter said there would be an "unmistakable" maidservant greeting him at the Löcknitz road. He was there and all the women looked perfectly ordinary. It wasn't his fault; "unmistakable" was a horrible criteria to select people by. All of his friends back in Croatia had looked different to him, but they were a pretty unremarkable lot. Even though he couldn't imagine mistaking one for another (making them by definition unmistakable), an outsider probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart. But the "unmistakable" principle got even wobblier when went through large population centers: there were a lot of people who were definitely unmistakable. In Stettin alone Siegfried had come about at least three people whom he would use "unmistakable" to describe. A man seemingly fatter than he was tall, a dwarf, and a man three heads taller than he with a missing thumb and a gruesomely deformed (or more likely wounded) nose. If they were in a different place and female, he would have approached each one and asked for an audience with his father. That would have been a good way to get mugged or killed.

As Siegfried pondered just how stupid one would have to be to use "unmistakable" as a main descriptor, someone who met precisely that condition approached him. She was on a white horse, riding sidesaddle so as not to stretch her skirts. A red flat cap topped a head of shoulder-length blue (!) hair, and her eyes were a bright red. He blinked, and a young grey-haired man appeared on her horse behind her. He wore rich black clothing and carried a wooden lance. He blinked again, and the man was gone, but the girl was extending her hand to him.

"Siegfried von Ingolschen, is that your name?"

After a quick greeting and a minute to get back in the saddle, Siegfried was riding through the city with the unmistakable girl at his side. "So," the boy joked, "how did my father tell you how to find me?"

The girl glanced at him as if to say, 'you are a loser who is poor at small talk' and continued looking straight ahead.

"He is utterly mistakable and can be lost in any group of five or more; you shall understand how?" Siegfried prompted her.

"Why would he do that? It would seem like a bad way to describe someone."

"He described you as 'unmistakable'."

The girl looked up and mused, "Yes, I could see why someone might use that term to describe myself."

"But there are so many other unmistakable people!" the boy protested. Either the girl was dense beyond belief, or she was putting on an act for her own purposes, be they mockery or to get silence. He had to find out.

"Yes. Still, I have never been mistaken for anyone else, and my description was suitable enough for you to find me, was it not?" Evidently she would take some prying; he very much doubted that the blue-haired girl was truly missing so much of what he was saying.

Ten minutes later, Siegfried attempted to start the conversation again. "So, are Gerhard and the others still in that block of apartments?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Seems like a weird place for an order of monks to use as a headquarters."

That got her attention. "The Military Order of St. Gerbert of Aurillac is not an ordinary monastic order or even a military order; it is engaged in the defense of Christendom. If not for our efforts, humanity will be destroyed," she recited ardently.

Siegfried was taken aback. This girl was tight with the tongue, but evidently she was quite attached to the Order. The 'humanity will be destroyed' was certainly something he had never heard. He hadn't seen anything 'humanity-saving' in his last (brief) visit five years ago. Just a bunch of decadent monks and nuns running around and taking up all of Gerhard's time. This he would have to ask his father about. "I'm sorry," he said. He expected an 'Oh, it was nothing' or 'don't apologize', but all he got out of the girl was a reprieve from her gaze as she looked forwards again. Was this how maids were supposed to act? As a nobleman Siegfried felt like he should know, but his guardians (two old childless Croatian serfs who didn't even know of Gerhard before he sent them himself and a small stipend) were not nearly rich enough to have servants, and whenever officers came to the village that he was probably the heir to, they treated him as another peasant to carry equipment. (2) He decided to follow the maid's example and took a look at the scenery surrounding him.

The street was quite a bit wider than in most cities Siegfried had been to; he chalked that up to the recent construction. The half-timber houses all looked identical, but something still looked familiar about them. He shouted, "Hey! Miss! We just passed my father's building!"

Many people in the street turned their heads to the commotion, but not the girl. "It is not necessary to go in there."

"He's not busy, is he!? I traveled three weeks to meet the wretch, and if he doesn't want to meet me you can tell him I'll be back in Croatia!"

The maid stopped the horse. "However, I believe we should leave the horses here." She hitched hers to a post, then did the same with Siegfried's. "We'll run."

After what must have been at least three miles of running, Siegfried was exhausted. Not the girl, though. She looked like she hadn't even broken a sweat, despite layers of thick clothing and the hot summer sun. They had left the town after a mile, and spent the next two making way to this forested hill they were at. Interestingly, the area was forested for miles even though the rest of the Pomeranian countryside the boy had seen was practically de-treed with a blanket of farmland and pasture replacing it. They went through a large and wide passage into the hill, and it was obvious that the place was very well-used. The passage was walled, ceilinged, floored, and reinforced with plenty of lumber frames and a line of wide pillars supporting the frames at the middle. After not too long they went through a door in an unhewn rock wall, and entered an absolutely mammoth cavern.

The cavern must have been miles across; the other side was over the horizon. There were a few buildings on the near side, but most of the cavern was a grassy plain with a few lakes. He could not fathom the sheer height of the ceiling; it was so high that it could have been a whole new sky. Even more amazingly, through some trick of architecture or miracle of God it was as bright as the daylight sky.

Closer to Siegfried was the expectant figure of a monk in the red-orange (3) doublet and hosen the Order used as its habit. "Thank you, Reidun," he said. "So you're the Abbot's son, right?" He held out his hand.

Siegfried took his hand and shook it. As he was tired, he propped himself up on the monk's arm as he shook. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, it's nothing. It's hot out there today, I know," said the monk. Cheerily he continued, "By the way, my name's Marcellus Herzener. We'll be working a lot together, young man."

The three went off, Marcellus in the lead, Reidun following slightly behind and to the left, and Siegfried ambling behind. The straggler was somewhat concerned at the things he had witnessed in the last hour. First, he had met a girl with blue hair, red eyes, and seemingly an infinite stamina. And now… this. He had been there only five years ago, and he had not seen anything remotely like this cave. Although that could have been because his father had largely confined him to a spare room in his apartment during that time. It definitely was at least under construction five years ago. Nothing this size could be built in five years, hell, maybe not even in fifty. The ceiling alone must have been an architectural masterwork to let the whole underground area be illuminated by sunlight. Marcellus was going to be working with him 'a lot', so he could be here for months. Never mind what 'work' could mean. Any opportunity to stay in the vicinity could help him understand some perturbing questions.

Marcellus was also more than a little perturbed, but with more practical matters. Gerhard had told him that there would likely be an attack that day, and that he needed to be ready to sortie his son in the Evangelion. But how would they be attacked? For whatever reason Gerhard refused to tell beyond hinting that the Evas were somehow the best weapon against whatever it would be. He claimed ignorance, but predicting the date of an attack (in this current age of peace in the Reich) without knowing anything else about it was… inconceivable, either superstition or a lie. Marcellus was betting on superstition (he had heard the Abbot was very interested in astrology), but he wouldn't have bet very much money on it.

In any case, the best course of action would be to get the boy prepared to sortie the EVA if an attack occurred. That too posed a problem, as said Child was five days late. It was already after noon now, so at the most there would be a few hours to get some brief training in. Why had he been chosen to do this deed again? This deed which reeked with heresy and witchcraft, with this "monastic" order so clearly devoted more to the Emperor than the Pope?

Don't think about it, said his mind. In fact, Marcellus did not want to know why. The reason for this was that he was following Gerhard's orders because he had been ordered to by someone else: a teacher, a friend.

The man who saved my soul.

He pictured him standing with Gerhard, a scene which probably did happen at some point as he had told Marcellus that they had met personally. They were shaking hands, Gerhard dropping into Latin with every other sentence and his mentor laughing… No! He couldn't bring himself to associate the two, and he knew it. That's why he quickly forced his mind back onto the Children.

Reidun was supposed to be suited for piloting an Evangelion, but shortly before he had arrived her EVA, the Trent, had been severely damaged for reasons he had not been told of. He had seen the damaged beast, though. It was horrifically damaged, with large chunks of flesh just missing (although there were no signs that it had bled any). In the arms and legs some of the bones were visible, and the hands and feet were missing. How she had gotten the thing that mangled (in a "training accident", as the girl had told him) was a mystery and also something he didn't want to think about. He had already gotten over the pilot being female, as she was also inhumanly hardworking, tireless, and (it was probable this factor was the most important) completely dedicated to the Abbot.

Yes, she was definitely more suited to piloting the "Evangelion" beast than this new boy. There was nothing particularly distinct that separated him from an ordinary Croatian peasant, besides of course being the abbot's son. But now he was somehow to train him into a soldier capable of defeating a threat "that would be best handled by the Evangelions" within the space of a few hours. It boggled the mind. Marcellus sighed and continued to the EVAs. Hopefully the attack would not come whilst they were walking through this humongous chamber.

"Kurac!" Siegfried yelled, startling his companions. There was actually a perfectly good reason why he broke out into curses in front of a monk and a girl. In front of him, gazing into his soul, was the head of the Devil. A slightly closer examination revealed it to be a massive (easily over 100 feet tall) humanoid beast lying in a pit, and some common sense told him that even the most decadent monastery wouldn't be hiding the devil on their grounds. Only the head was above surface, but the pit was lit by torchlight and allowed him to see down to its feet. The muscles of an athlete or wild animal rippled underneath its skin, and a great red sphere shone ensconced in its solar plexus. Two green eyes glimmered on opposite sides of a narrow, almost grouper-like face that ended in a Habsburg jaw and an equally large protrusion between the eyes which ended in a bird-like bone mask. Thick ropes and metal chains tied it in position, but it was obvious that they would be just air to the beast if it tried to escape. "What in hell is that thing?"

Marcellus pointed to the beast. "That, Siegfried, is an Evangelion. Your father's project. You'll be the pilot."

Siegfried's fear of the beast, earlier receding after the initial shock, spiked. He began to tremble and stammered out a question. "M-me? But… why?"

"You're the only one who can pilot this thing," Marcellus said.

"No! There must be someone else!"

Marcellus laid his hand on the boy's shoulder took an authoritative tone. "Look, Siegfried. No, there is no one else. You are the only one who can pilot the Evangelion. Reidun will help you into it. Okay?" He smiled.

"What about you? Why don't you pilot it?" the boy asked hysterically.

Marcellus let slip a slight frown. Why couldn't he pilot the Evangelion? Like so many other things, he didn't know. But according to Gerhard, each Evangelion had only one Child in the world that could pilot it. There was also a small segment of the population that could control one as long as they took no movements with the EVA, but they were useless for actual piloting as had proven by several tests gone horribly wrong. "Well I, uh," he stuttered to buy time for an actual response. "Your dad said that you are the only one."

"Gerhard?" the boy asked, his expression shifting from scared out of his mind and confused to confused and inquisitive. Then it shifted to anger. "Where is he? He said he wanted to meet me!"

Soothingly, Marcellus said, "Now, I'm sure he'll get here eventually. Reidun, could you show Siegfried the Entry Wound?

"Yes, sir," said Reidun.

Siegfried mumbled, "No, he said I was needed here…" He froze. This was entirely what he was called here for! No, Gerhard didn't want to meet him, he just wanted him in the area! Had he ever spent more than the bare minimum of time with him five years ago? No, he hadn't! And now, this monk would be the closest thing he would get, the Vicar of Gerhard in the general vicinity of Siegfried von Ingolschen. He probably wasn't even in the cave.

Reidun continued, "Will he be moving in the Evangelion?"

"I won't pilot it!" Siegfried yelled. Taking off rapidly, he made for where he had come in. Although it was at least a mile away, it was better than nothing, and better than being forced to pilot that demon his father had stored in this secret base.

"Come back!" Marcellus shouted. Reidun immediately ran off after him, steadily closing in. When she got to within a few feet, she dove, wrapping her arms around his waist. Siegfried went down, his face landing in the subterranean grass. Reidun scooped him up, carried him to Marcellus on her shoulder, and deposited him at the monk's feet.

Siegfried's head hurt. Why did I think this was a good idea? And people will hear of this, too; I don't fancy explaining this to my father.

"Good job, Reidun," Marcellus commented. "Now, Siegfried. Will you pilot the Evangelion?"

Siegfried lay, silent. No, he would not. Although it looked like he couldn't in fact escape this location, still no one could force him to do such a thing as pilot the Evangelion. In fact, even he couldn't force himself to pilot the Evangelion, as he didn't know how to.

Marcellus decided to take a slightly harder approach. "Your father will not want to see someone who refuses to execute his Christian duty and runs away, only to be beaten effortlessly by a girl his own age," he observed.

Still Siegfried refused to move. Oh, yes, I was utterly humiliated by a girl my own age. My talk with Gerhard will be so fascinating. Definitely worth the saddle sores. After a minute, he said, "Christian duty?"

"Yes, your duty." Marcellus slipped into full homily. "With this Evangelion, we will defend Christendom from what threatens it. You are the only one who can pilot the EVA, so it's your duty to do so. Martyrs are good for the faith, but each one is still a tragedy. With that beast, you can minimize the number of martyrs Christianity will suffer in the next few decades."

"Yes…," Siegfried admitted. Defeated, he stood. "I'll pilot the Evangelion."

"Very good," said Marcellus. "Now show him into the Entry Wound, Reidun."

The blue haired girl wrapped her arm around his back and gently pushed him towards the beast. Just when he began to fear she would toss him into the mouth, they circled around the pit, revealing a structure bridging the Evangelion's lower neck and the back of the pit. Although most of the system was hidden beneath the Eva's cape, it was capable of withdrawing from the precipice by sliding back on rails. The two entered the structure, and Siegfried saw what had been meant by "Entry Wound".

In the middle of the structure, a curtain had been parted to reveal a human-height tunnel into the Evangelion's upper vertebrae. Even though most of the tunnel was covered in red-brown scabs, some parts, especially those on the bottom, were oozing blood. Occasionally, some dripped down from the top. The passage was dark, and the end was barely visible. Although the blood and flesh of the Evangelion did have a detectable smell, they were far overpowered by a strong smell of brine overlaid with alcohol.

As he progressed through the Wound, the air grew steadily damper, the brine-alcohol-scent grew steadily stronger, and more blood appeared to be oozing from the walls and floor. Eventually, they came to the chamber the Wound ended at. Although the room was dark, a pool of pale-crimson blood emitting alcoholic fumes was visible at the bottom. The ceiling was dripping white-tinged saltwater. In the center was a slightly deformed smooth pillar. Reidun laid her palm on his back, freezing him, and wrapped a copper-coated phylactery onto his forehead. Siegfried stepped into the ankle-deep blood, and Reidun followed.

"We should make this quick," Reidun suggested as her hand nudged Siegfried forward. To the pillar she commanded, "Kenneth Adelton, the new Child is here. You can get out now." On her command, a hand emerged from the column, followed by a forearm, a dirty-blonde scalp, and then a full scrawny, gasping body. He was wearing nothing except for breeches and a phylactery, similar to the one he was wearing.

"Good morning… Siegfried von Ingolschen, is it?" Kenneth asked eagerly. Siegfried wondered what he was so eager about; he only felt fear, pressure, and steadily increasing tipsiness from the alcohol fumes. They shook hands. At least the alcohol was blocking out the fear, if not quickly enough. While he supposed in normal circumstances he would be quite impressed by a man (or boy about his age, as it seemed) appearing from a pillar, he was much more concerned by his own impending demise and how the pillar would play a role in it. There were really so many options that he couldn't focus on one. To narrow down the list, he would have to have a better idea of what the pillar was. After all, if the pillar was soft he wouldn't have to worry about Reidun bashing his face into the pillar until he stopped moving, but he would have to worry about her suffocating him in a similar way. He touched the pillar, which was wet. It wasn't merely damp, but made of stagnant liquid. It wasn't blending with the pool of blood underneath it, and there was no current. He idly pondered how this pillar could be used to kill him, but his thoughts were interrupted by a low, deafening, moan.

The room shook and tilted, throwing the pool of blood out the tunnel. The three children narrowly escaped the same fate, landing against a fleshy wall. "It's going berserk!" Kenneth screamed. Siegfried supposed that was bad, but really he had no idea what was going on and didn't care. He was too dizzy to move, and his eyes hurt from having the blood splashed in his face. Closing them just made it worse, so he lay waiting for the room to stop flashing pain into his eyes.

"Siegfried, get up," said Reidun. She had landed gracefully on her feet, and was pulling at his arm. She's pretty cute, for being covered in blood.

Kenneth was still cringing on the new floor. "Reidun, how do we stop this?" he asked panickedly.

"The Evangelion will keep rampaging while it is not piloted. We should get Siegfried into the Cord. Grab his other hand."

Kenneth got up, still shivering. He and Reidun pulled Siegfried to his feet, just in time for the room to shift back upright, this time with a massive thrust slamming them down to the floor. Kenneth landed first, and Siegfried on him, and Reidun on him in turn. The boy that had been in the Evangelion's Cord just a few moments ago screamed and passed out.

The Wien, the 2nd Evangelion, was going berserk. The bells were ringing the Berserk Evangelion pattern, and the few people who had gathered to watch the activation were running in panic. Precisely one minute ago, and not much longer after Reidun and Siegfried disappeared behind the beast, it had started moaning and shaking. In a short time, it burst through the ropes restraining the torso, and a minute later it stood up, shredding the ropes on the legs as well. Bells were ringing, everybody was running, but Marcellus couldn't help but gawk at the Evangelion. It was so big, such a commanding presence. Seeing the mutilated remnants of the Trent had not been preparation enough for the sight of the moving, unblemished that moment, Marcellus knew he was fated to die. My sins are behind me, o God, if you call me I shall come.

Reidun recovered first, and pulled Siegfried up by his armpits. "Siegfried, only you can stop the EVA," she said urgently, "Concentrate on that." With that, she slammed the dazed Child into the pillar of liquid.

Siegfried was too surprised to react, and his hyperventilating lungs quickly filled with the cord's fluid. He flailed about in the liquid, trying to get out of the cord, but whenever he tried to move in one direction the cord re-centered on him. He soon found that he could breathe in the fluid, but that didn't allay his paranoia. The orange liquid was still a hopeless prison, where meaningful movement was impossible. I'm never going to get out of here. I'll die… His thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"Siegfried, are you doing all right?"

I mustn't embarrass myself more!

"Yes. I'm… okay now. What do you want me to do now?" he moaned.

"Concentrate on the Evangelion. Block out all thoughts and think of being the Evangelion," the girl instructed.

Despite the fact that Siegfried was still half-convinced the girl was going to kill him, the voice was calming. The orange fluid was washing the alcoholic blood out of his eyes, which also helped. He closed his eyes, and pictured in his mind the beast that he had seen earlier. The presence felt familiar, which was disturbing yet also comforting. The boy opened his eyes and saw the grassy cavern landscape. It was beautiful. The height gave him a feeling of control, and the fact the room had stopped shaking eased his nerves quite a bit. "OK, I'm seeing… what the EVA sees? I don't know," he chuckled.

"Get out of the pit." Because he was seeing from the EVA's eyes, Reidun sounded like a voice in his head. Guess I'll have to do what she says then, he chuckled under his Evangelion had already been stepping out of the pit, so it was simple to complete the motion. After that was walking. After two steps he fell down, eliciting a moan from Kenneth as the bottom of the room turned into a side for the third time that day.

"I suggest we go back," Reidun commanded. And I dug myself even deeper into that hole. I'm hopeless… At this point, Siegfried had essentially no choice whether to obey her or not. The more he stayed in this beast with her, the more he would embarrass himself by screwing up or requiring instruction from a girl his own age. He did want to stay in the thing a bit longer, but thanks to his own… Stupidity! Relentless stupidity! it would be impossible to do so. He went back over to the pit and lowered himself in. Only once he got in did he realize he'd done so sideways. A sharp clockwise scoot rectified the situation (hopefully the girl hadn't noticed).

Reidun exited the Evangelion, taking Kenneth with her in a fireman's carry. Siegfried was staying back in the EVA. Marcellus was waiting in the Evangelion's outbuilding, so she informed him on the incident with the berserking EVA. It was useful to explain it while it was still fresh in her mind; this way it would be easier to explain to Gerhard later. Kenneth needed medical attention, so she went next to the hospital. A half-mile into her trek it occurred to her that the base was perhaps a bit too large, but it was the construction of God, not man. Who was she to question God's will? A reason for His decision would arise, she was sure.

Half an hour later, she dropped Kenneth at the hospital. As the monks hurried to the Reserve Child's barely-conscious body, she looked back at the Evangelion pits. Although it was far away, the 160-foot tall creature was easy to see. It had apparently mastered walking and was making slow, experimental jabs with an EVA-scale poleaxe.

DING, DONG, DING, DONG, DINGDONGDINGDONG, DING, DONG

It was the warning for an attack.

Siegfried heard the bells too, but had no idea what they meant. However everyone near the Evangelion was running in various directions, so he assumed it was important for him as well. He poked his head out of the liquid orange column to ask Marcellus what the bells meant, but was immediately informed.

"We're under attack!" Attack from what? There wasn't anyone especially hostile to the Reich in the immediate vicinity. No, scratch that, the area was surrounded by hostile powers, but the Poles were too weak to attack, the Protestants had been quiet for the last few years, and the Danes and Swedes probably couldn't arrange an invasion fleet without the news becoming common knowledge.

"Let's get out of the Geofront and see what's coming," Marcellus said. The beast's controller was apprehensive, but thinking around the same thing. There was no way the Protestants could have something that matched up. Simply no way, although as he thought about it the possibility became more real. He disappeared back into the Cord.

Marcellus was both ecstatic and intensely worried. On one hand, he was glad to finally have an idea of what the Evangelions were to face. On the other, the idea of being unsecured in the middle of the EVA (if Reidun was correct in her report, this would be very dangerous) did not seem like a good idea. He resolved to take a good look at the thing, help the pilot make a plan if necessary, and make his way to safety.

Siegfried's face briefly appeared from the Cord. "We're going through the tunnel!" Marcellus crouched on the floor, next to the front wall. Gravity shifted and laid him out against it, but he was fine by the time the EVA stood up again on the outside. The beast walked on the road for a while, undoubtedly scaring the living daylights out of any bystanders in the vicinity. And then it frose.

Marcellus practically dove into the Cord; the orange liquid soon shifted into the image that Siegfried and the Eva saw. Immediately he understood why the Evangelion could no longer move. The creature was wading in from the sea, quickly gaining height as it approached the coast. It somewhat resembled a bird, if the bird walked upright, had arms, didn't have feathers, had ridiculously broad boney-padded shoulders, and had a glowing red ball on its torso. No, it didn't look particularly like a bird, but it still somehow reminded him of one. It was emerging somewhere past Stettin-Drei; hopefully the battle wouldn't be within the city. As he pondered the coming battle, the Eva turned away.

They were moving away from the fight; they were running…. This wasn't right at all. He grabbed the pilot by the arms. "What are you doing?" he shouted.

"Did you see that thing?" the pilot babbled. "I… I can't…," he trailed off. They had stopped moving.

"You see that, up there?" Marcellus pointed to a point midway up the mountain the base was located under, a bare overlook that stood out among the trees that covered most of the mount. "That's Gerhard." In the Cord of the Evangelion it was possible to see in much greater detail than the size of the thing would suggest, and Siegfried saw what Marcellus saw. Gerhard was indeed there, and his spyglass was pointing at them. "You don't want to run away with your own father watching, do you?" The boy was fixated intensely on the figure viewing them from the mountaintop. "I don't think he'd want anything to do with you if you did such a thing. In fact, he might even come to hate you, and send you back to Croatia and never see you again…." They both winced at the last part. I'm still so cruel when I need to be… what would I do if I was him? No, he was not to think about being younger again. It was a path nothing good could come out of; best to focus on the battle. But at least Siegfried seemed to have finally gotten out of his funk. He'd turned around, picked up his poleaxe, and was now advancing towards the birdlike monster. Did that end justify his means? The monk shook his head.

"Here's the plan. Try to get that thing to go around the city, or intercept it before it gets there. Try to kill it, but if you can't do it come back to base. Now let me out." He slid back into the chamber and braced as the beast crouched to bring the Entry Wound closer to the ground. Once it was down all the way he leapt out, racing to the top of the mountain.

Siegfried brought his Evangelion back to its feet. The monster had now fully emerged from the water and was much closer to Stettin-Drei than he was. There was no chance of intercepting it before it got there, and it would probably go through the city before it got to him. He'd had a plan. The idea was to hide in the forest and ambush the monster when it got near. It could have used a bit more refining, and dropping the poleaxe was embarrassing, but it was still better than plan "Fight and Die Like a Good Christian Son". Well, if you had such a good plan, why didn't you tell Marcellus? He sighed.

At least the thing was avoiding the city. Until a tiny ball of lead hit it in its back. Its eyes flashed, and the poor bastards who shot it (and everyone in the same block) were met with an enormous cross-shaped explosion. More shots rang from the perimeters of the city. It seemed the militia had gathered at the stockade, using its wall-pieces (4) and a few rifled muskets to tap it from extreme range. Those with pikes or muskets were cowering behind the stockades; whether they were waiting for it to get closer or hoping for it to leave was uncertain. They never saw it do either, for its eyes flashed three more times in quick succession and the manned sections of the stockades were blown to bits by cross-shaped explosions. For the next forever it just stood there, daring all to come and try harder to kill it. Siegfried did not take it up on its offer, preferring to sit on the road with his poleaxe braced to defend himself. After two minutes it got heavy, and he jammed the butt-spike into the ground to reduce the weight.

Ten minutes after it demolished the Stettin-Drei militia, the sea monster began moving again, this time towards Siegfried. He took a subtle backwards step, deepening his stance, and then another one with his front foot…

The sea monster's eyes flashed, they were staring right at him and their brightness fixated him and blinded him a little…

FWOOM! A flaming cross sprouted immediately behind him, roasting his back and sending him sprawling to the ground. He caught his fall, saw the monster's eyes flash again, and immediately rolled to the left, dodging another flaming cross where he had been. Siegfried broke into a sprint, aiming to quickly close the two miles between him and the monster. He trampled trees as he ran; they were little more than shrubbery to the Evangelion. Still, they slowed him down enough for the sea monster to target him. The eyes flashed once and a cross appeared in the middle of his path, forcing him to dodge. Then they strobed for ten seconds, carving a line of miniature cross explosions through the forest. The line arced towards him, forcing him to weave and dodge out of its path. Just when it seemed the crosses had stopped sprouting, one burst from his foot.

It left a wide hole in the balls of his feet, stabbing him again each time he took a step. Siegfried limped forward, poleaxe in front. Fortunately the heat of the explosion had cauterized the wound. He was just a few hundred feet from the creature; that was nothing in an Evangelion. He felt what the EVA felt; it illuminated the insides of his left foot with pain. He glanced back at the slope Gerhard was watching from. There were more people there now. A blonde woman, carefully reading a scroll. Two brunettes, one male and one female but each with the same hair length, holding more scrolls and peering at the blonde woman's. Gerhard of course, his eyes half on him and half on the scroll. A grey-haired man, focused on the monster. All were in the St. Gerbert's red-orange habit that looked more like peasant dress than what any real monk or nun would wear. Marcellus was climbing up the face of the clearing; it was frankly amazing that he had gotten up that far in only ten or fifteen minutes. And next to Gerhard, spyglass to her eye, was Reidun. Siegfried lofted the poleaxe to shoulder height.

He took one step closer to the sea monster, with his right foot. Then he followed with his left. Pain. A few more steps, and he was within range. Siegfried thrust with the spear end of the poleaxe, right into the sea creature's face. And then just a few feet from that bony bird-mask, it was blocked by a series of concentric octagons. He drew it back and thrust again at its stomach, with the same results. Then, to strike with the axehead, he brought the weapon over his head.

The sea monster moved for the first time in minutes. It rushed into the Evangelion, wrapping one arm around its torso and holding its head in the other's hand. Siegfried desperately attempted to elbow its head, but the octagons got in his way each time. Spikes of light protruded from the palms of the monster's three-fingered hands, opening a hole in his side and shattering the Evangelion's upper jaw. Sachiel proceeded to slowly drag the spike of light down his face, carving through teeth and bones. Siegfried screamed and brought his elbow down again on the thing's head, to no avail. Then he brought down the poleaxe. The sea monster screamed as the butt-spike avoided the AT-field still holding off the Evangelion's elbow, broke its skin right above its shoulder blades, and plunged deep into its torso, coming out below the shining red sphere ensconced in its external ribcage. It leaped away from the Evangelion, cutting a deep gash in its back with its spike of light.

With the sea monster a bit farther away, Siegfried assessed the fight so far. On one hand, the monster certainly didn't seem pleased to have his poleaxe running parallel to its spine. A stream of blood was running along the butt of the poleaxe, giving the impression that it was pissing blood from the spike. On the other hand, he was gushing blood from his back and face, and didn't have his weapon anymore. The pain was receding, but a throbbing ache was setting in for his torn-up jaw. He looked at Sachiel again. The sea monster was frantically pulling out the poleaxe, raising the axe-head like a flag a few feet with each pull, gushing blood from the exit wound now that the shaft wasn't plugging the hole. Siegfried knew it was the best time he would ever have to strike, but he found he couldn't move. His body, wearied by his Evangelion's massive injuries and enormous fatigue, simply refused, and he lay in wait for it to come and finish him off. Immediately after the entire poleaxe was extricated, the sea monster obliged.

Siegfried shoved his arms in front of him, hoping to hold the monster at a distance. Sachiel grabbed the Evangelion's arms, entering a shoving match as the two giants tried to push the other over. The monster slid its arms to the inside of the Evangelion's, gripping tightly to the inside of its elbows. Then it activated its spikes of light. They tore through the blood vessels and soft tissue of the joints, making Siegfried release Sachiel's arms with a scream. The sea monster put its hand back on the EVA's jaw, jamming it into the giant's mouth. It activated its spike of light again, impaling its tongue. As the Evangelion opened its mouth with shock, Sachiel deactivated the spike and shoved its hand further in. Siegfried gagged on its claws. Then it reactivated the spike, carving the EVA's left mandible from the skull. Siegfried opened his mouth wide in shock (no noise save a soft gurgle came out) and passed out.

(1) Psalms 71:20

(2) After the collapse of the Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary following the battle of Mohács, Hungary and Croatia were contested by the Habsburgs and the Zápolyas, who were supported by the Ottomans. For over a century, the Ottomans launched cross-border raids into Habsburg lands, even in times of piece. To counter these raids, the Habsburgs set up a military frontier in Croatia, Slavonia, and Slovakia. These lands were divided into captaincies, each of which was funded by a part of the Habsburg crownlands (Croatia and Slavonia by Upper Austria and Slovakia by Bohemia). These captaincies built fortifications and maintained troops to thwart the Ottoman raids. In order to keep the Croatian economy going through a hundred years of war-like conditions, the Habsburgs offered land and freeman status to people who settled there, in exchange for military service. These Grenzers (mostly refugees from the Ottoman-held Balkans but including some Germans) often served in Habsburg campaigns far from the Balkans, and became a well-respected branch of the Austrian armies.

(3) Wall Pieces were large muskets often used in Early Modern and Napoleonic fortifications. Due to their large size (usually around 140 cm barrels and 2.5 cm bore) they had a much larger effective range than regular muskets. George Washington reported that his could hit a sheet of paper from 550 meters away, an impressive feat in the age of line infantry.