Evangel Notes: Requiem for a World
A Neon Genesis Evangelion / Angel Notes Crossover
Disclaimer: In this particular universe, I do not own or in any way shape or form hold a claim to Neon Genesis Evangelion, Angel Notes, Kara no Kyoukai, any other elements of the Nasuverse, or any other modern works that I may reference in this story.
In 2000 AD, the cataclysm known as Second Impact destroyed most of the Southern Hemisphere, a global catastrophe that brought modern civilization to its knees. Fifteen years later, things have only become worse, with the mortally wounded world caught in its final throes: the continents cracking and tearing apart from massive tectonic shifts, crops refuse to grow, animal life has become all but extinct, and the very air is filled with "Grain" or "True Ether", a substance that has reduced birth rates near to nothing, on top of proving violently toxic to anyone born before Second Impact.
In the face of this, humanity clings to survival due to its tenacity, scraping away at the edge of the darkness with fire, using every ounce of its creativity and technological ingenuity to stave off the end – using medicines and supplements to help adapt to the dying world, air purification devices to filter the toxins from their dwellings, environmentally controlled geofronts for rebuilding their devastated cities and raising what crops they can.
But things are about to take a turn for the worse, as the Angels begin to awaken from their aeons-long slumber in the watery depths, and last gasps of the dying world have reached the Aristoteles, vast and alien powers drifting in the void of space—beings without rules, without minds, without the concept of death itself, who come in response to Earth's last wish—that humanity, which slew her, might follow her unto oblivion.
" " denotes speech
'italics' denotes thought
'bold' denotes location names
'bold italics' denotes skill use
Misato's Car, En Route to Geofront, Tokyo-3
With the whoosh of ignition and the momentary screams of the sonic barrier as it was torn asunder time and time again, scores of missiles tore through empty space from the rocket pods of VTOL gunships, laying down skinny white contrails to mark the wake of their passing as they vectored to and fro to avoid any possible point defense—before engaging sprint mode, hurling themselves towards the hulking figure of the Third Angel with extreme prejudice—
Shudder! Crash!
—blossoming into fiery explosions that whitened the morning sky, the flame and smoke belched from the myriad detonations up obscuring the Angel's form, to the cheers of the crews of the gunships, who thought their foe destroyed. After all, nothing known to man could survive an onslaught of enough fuel-air explosive to tear apart a mountain—
"Nnnnghhhhh!"
—or so they thought, only to be proven wrong as the hideous monstrosity emerged from the storm of shrapnel and fuel-air explosives unscratched, seeming to glare at the humans on their gnat-like gunships with its skull-like mask—
Scree—Boom!
—before contemptuously sweeping the nearest of the pests from the sky with a lance of molten light that erupted from one arm, its inexorable advance continuing as the gunships kept up their fierce but ultimately futile bombardment, with the shorn apart fuselages and flaming debris raining down upon the city below—which, unfortunately for Misato and the Children, was the only way to reach an access point for the Geofront.
Naturally, the two blood splattered teens sitting in Captain Katsuragi's Renault Alpine A310 were not exactly pleased with this—or at least Mana wasn't, with Shinji seeming somewhat distracted by the presence of the Angel, his clouded eyes tracking the titanic creature as it moved ponderously through the city, sowing destruction in its wake.
'…it's that…it's that…it's that…'
Shinji's mind cycled through those words, a mantra of madness echoing with every move the creature made, as little shocks of pain coursed through his body, his heart hammering in his chest as he sought to calm it with reason—but found that his instincts spurned reason, instead freely spreading confusion and terror as he found himself breathing hard.
"Uurghh," Shinji groaned aloud, wincing as the Angel loosed its energy lance, as if he could feel the disturbance in the flow of Ether, an odd sensation that only synergized with a sense of nausea as he forced himself to remain still in his seat.
"Are you all right, Shinji-kun?" Mana whispered seriously from the seat beside him, eying her companion with concern as she placed two fingers on his arm to measure his stress levels. For she had noticed how tense he was—how tense he had been from the moment the Angel had revealed itself, a reaction she had never quite seen before from him. Fear, trepidation, anxiety, yes…but not quite like this, at least when the boy in question wasn't faced with having to enter a large body of water.
'Even if he can actually swim…' the girl thought ironically, her eyes looking between the boy sitting next to her and the war zone outside. 'Though I suppose I might have something to do with that…'
"I'm…fine," Shinji managed to get out with a weak smile, closing his eyes in an attempt not to have to be aware of what was happening, as outside,the implacable behemoth continued to advance, even as the UN Forces pressed their attack, tank battalions shooting concentrated barrages of shells, gunships launching conventional missiles, micromissiles, storms of lead—all to no visible effect, save to scatter more debris in the path of the car and hamper visibility.
In the driver's seat of the car, Captain Misato Katsuragi was concentrating hard to get her charges (and herself) through the chaotic battlefield alive, swerving around abandoned cars and the flaming wreckage of destroyed VTOLs with every bit of skill and instinct she had.
'I am far too sober for this…' she thought to herself, grabbing hold of a Yebisu Beer she had left and taking a deep swig, as the cool liquid went down her parched throat. 'Ah...that's better…'
Scree! Vroom!
The squeal of burning rubber rent the air, with smoke rising from new tire treads imprinted on the streets as Misato narrowly avoided another hulking piece of wreckage that crashed into their path, the car seeming to spin out of control—and then realigning itself along a straightaway.
'Ok, I need to get things ready…' she thought, retrieving her cell phone.
"I need a train car prepared at the nearest Geofront access point, Priority One status," the purple-haired officer spoke aloud, voice clipped and efficient. "A linear one—I have the Children with me. Right. I understand, bye."
Hanging up and putting away the cell phone, Captain Katsuragi spared a glance backwards at the Children, only to frown slightly as she looked over them and once more noticed the dried blood caked onto their clothing.
'But none of it their own, apparently, if they're able to keep moving like this…'
"So do I want to know what happened on the train to Tokyo-3?" NERV's Director of Operations asked wryly, addressing her question to the raven-haired Ryougi, since the Third Child seemed somewhat…out of sorts. "Or why you two are covered in blood?"
"You probably don't, actually," Mana Ryougi responded rather archly, though she added a rather snarky-if true statement to it a moment later. "Though would you believe me if I said vampires?"
The older woman was silent for a moment, her features hardening as she caught the last word the girl had said.
'Vampires…have the Dead Apostles finally grown desperate enough to move on Tokyo-3?'
"Vampires, you say," Misato repeated slowly, raising a single eyebrow as the word registered. "And you fought them off somehow?"
Mana opened her mouth to respond, but—
BOOM!
—NERV's Director of Operations was distracted from continuing her interrogation by a rather larger explosion in the distance drew her eye—followed by a blinding flash of white as the Third Angel unleashed a powerful crucifix-shape blast that effortlessly wiped out the tank battalions that had been assailing it.
'It's only to be expected that conventional weapons would fail,' Captain Katsuragi thought grimly, shaking her head as she fought the wheel for control against the ground tremors kicked up by this latest onslaught. 'The Angels are ancient beyond humanity itself, with the air of mystery that confers—and a greater mystery trumps a lesser. Most of the time, anyway.'
"Katsuragi-san," Shinji spoke up, his voice strained with effort as he looked off into the distance, noticing how the air force all seemed to be retreating. "Why are the VTOLs veering off like that?"
Now, being rather familiar with the tactics of a conventional air force, Misato felt a chill race down her spine as her mind ran through all the possible scenarios for why they might be breaking off their attack—before settling on one possibility she would rather not entertain but seemed all but cert...
"Wait, it can't be...they're going to use an N2 bomb?" she gasped, eyes widening as she reached for her can of Yebisu once more, downing another swig. 'Definitely not sober enough for this.'
To her annoyance, she was proven right, as a demonic roar ripped through the air, a column of light rising into the sky from the point of impact, with only a handful of seconds left to her before the shockwave swept over them, Shinji whimpering in sympathetic pain, teeth clenched tightly, breathing ragged…
'Can I risk it? Well, it's not as if I have a choice…the Children are here…and I still have 33 loan payments left on this car…'
"…Mauer!"
Misato barked a single word of command, an ancient set of scars on her stomach glowing for an instant as the air around the car rippled and congealed, forming into a glass-like barrier—
Whoosh!
—just in time to divert the worst effects of the blast, keeping the blistering heat and pressure at bay, though—
'It's not enough?'
—there was an extended moment of terror as the car was savagely tipped to one side, lurching into the air—and then it passed, with the wheels making contact with the ground with a violent crash!
As the car continued moving without any unforeseen consequences, such as breaking apart, flipping over or exploding due to a ruptured fuel line, the purple-haired captain let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
'At least it's still working…but still, the repair costs…I just finished restoring this car too…' Misato groused mentally, slamming her foot down on the accelerator petal, as the car drifted through a hairpin turn with an ear-piercing screeee!, as the vehicle was once more pointed in the right direction to proceed to NERV HQ. 'This has been a terrible day…at least the reinforcement worked, or else—'
"So you're a magus, Captain Katsuragi?" Mana asked quietly, somehow not seeming particularly fazed by this. Of course, given who her mother was, and that she was familiar enough with magecraft thanks to a certain puppetmaster who sometimes came to Mifune on business…
"You catch on quickly, don't you?" the purple-haired Captain asked wryly, a question for a question. Given that she had just used her Crest in front of the two Children, it was probably inadvisable to lie…at least, if she wanted to build any sort of trust. "Call me Misato—both of you. And no, before you ask, I'm not with the Association."
"…not with the Association?" Shinji repeated, seeming a little more coherent now that the Angel had been forced into temporary immobility. "Then who…?"
"The special agency NERV — a secret organization directly attached to the United Nations," Misato explained, on more or less full disclosure. "You know of it, right, Shinji-kun?"
"Isn't that the one your father belongs to? The one he sent us ID cards for?" Mana asked of Shinji, receiving only a small, puzzled nod in answer as the boy sighed, his thoughts taking on a somewhat darker cast.
'I knew it…father would only send for me if he wanted me for something,' the Third Child mused, a flicker of naked pain seeming to flash across his face, though on a second glance, it was gone.
"So is there something Father wants me to do?" he voiced in a monotone, resigned to the fact that even his father never wanted him for who he was, just for something he might be able to do. 'Which is probably the reason I was cast away many years ago—because I was useless to him. Though what have I learned that would…no...it can't be...'
"So you find him cold…so do I," Misato sympathized, her even tone cutting through Shinji's troubled jumble of thoughts. Shaking her head slightly, she steered the car into a sheltered tunnel, one of the access ways to NERV Central, watching as large blast doors slid open to permit her access, and then closed behind the vehicle. "Do you know what your father does?"
"An important job protecting humanity, or so one of my teachers said," Shinji replied dutifully, thankful for the distraction, with Mana slowly nodding beside him, somewhat relieved as her friend seemed to be in less pain now.
"That's right," Captain Katsuragi replied as the linear train went into motion, conveying the car, passengers and all, down into the depths of the GeoFront. "Tokyo-3 is the headquarters for NERV, the foundation for the rebuilding of the world…and a fortress for the human race."
Maze of Corridors, NERV HQ, Tokyo-3
To most newcomers, the vast complex of NERV HQ, with its metallic passageways, convoluted walkways, and twisted corridors that seemed to run one into the other would seem…confusing, to say the least, though some might well use the words daunting, intimidating or downright malevolent—and this was under normal circumstances.
"Red alert! All hands to battle stations! Repeat, red alert!" a female voice blared over the intercom, red lights in the base flashing in time with the klaxon signal of imminent danger. "All hands to battle stations! Prepare for ground interception of the enemy."
Such was what Captain Katsuragi and her two charges were subjected to upon exiting the lift from the car park, a situation that immediately set nerves on edge, with the Director of NERV Operations looking between two corridors, choosing a direction, and setting off—only to come face to face—or rather, knee to face, with Experimental Subject BX293A – that is, the hot-water penguin known as PenPen.
"Wark! Wark! Wark!" the flightless bird squawked, retractable claws extending as it gestured insistently towards a third hallway that Misato had overlooked, causing the purple-haired woman to halt in her tracks, a look of embarrassment crossing her face as she realized her mistake.
"You're saying that Ritsuko is waiting at the end of this hallway, and that's she's not happy with me?" Misato interpreted from the gestures and tone of the penguin – a being created from one of the earliest of the A-Ray experiments as a genetically modified creature better able to live upon the dying world.
"Wark!" PenPen acknowledged, nodding once and crossing his flippers for emphasis as he looked up at his master with his beady green eyes.
"…yeah well, why doesn't she try driving through that battlefield and coming out alive," the purple-haired woman muttered with a grimace, before shaking her head resignedly. "Alright then, lead the way, PenPen."
"Wark!" the hot-springs penguin acknowledged once again, turning and waddling in the direction he had indicated, moving at a clip rather faster than most would think a penguin capable of (on land, at any rate).
Glancing behind her, Misato became quite aware of two sets of eyes watching her strangely, as if reconsidering their initial opinion of her, and not in a good way.
"Hey, come on, don't look at me like that," the Katsuragi magus spoke, looking somewhat irked. "I'll have you know that PenPen is a very intelligent penguin and is perfectly capable of understanding human speech."
"Oh, I see," Mana noted, connecting the dots in her mind. "So the penguin is your familiar?"
"You've definitely been around magi before if you have a working knowledge of familiars," Misato noted clinically, making a note to herself to study the Fourth Child's background in a little more detail. And the Third's, come to think of it, since the two had been living together in Mifune for several years now, under the care of one of the more well known families there. "Short answer: yes."
It was only a short while later that the group encountered a waiting Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, the rather irritated bottle-blonde who served as the head of Project E.
"Ah! H—hi, Ritsuko..." Misato said nervously, attempting to disarm her colleague's ire before another lecture started. After all, she was still fairly new to the organization, so for her to get lost again, especially after a hectic, disorienting drive aboveground, was perfectly understandable, right?
Not surprisingly, the genius scientist didn't exactly agree.
"What took so long, Captain Katsuragi? We are short on both hands and time, and the situation outside is critical," the bottle-blonde broke in, reprimanding her sometimes friend and coworker. "It's a good thing I had PenPen waiting at the nearest lift, otherwise you would have gotten lost again, wouldn't you?"
"Sorry..." the Director of NERV Operations replied sheepishly. When Ritsuko had a point, she had a point, and this was one that Misato certainly couldn't deny.
"These are the two, then?" Dr. Akagi asked brusquely, giving the two blood-splattered teens a quick once-over.
"Yes," Misato confirmed, shifting to a much more business-like demeanor. "According to the report of the Marduk Institute, these are the Third Children and Fourth Children."
"Nice to meet you," Ritsuko said, nodding to both of them in turn.
"A pleasure to meet you as well, ma'am," Mana returned professionally,
"Ah…yes," Shinji said, returning the gesture after a moment, almost as an afterthought.
"Rather like your father, aren't you?" Misato asked of the Third. "Neither of you are very sociable."
Evangelion Deployment Bay, NERV HQ, Tokyo-3
He stood in the center of a massive room of white, one large enough and textured smoothly enough that he could not see the walls or boundaries of the room –leading to a rather disorienting effect. In fact, even knowing where the entrance was, he would be hard pressed to locate it again, though Shinji Ikari's attention was understandably not focused on the room itself—but on the two battlesuits sitting in the middle of the room, lit from below by lights, and fitted with a variety of tubes and wires.
"These are the multi-purpose Humanoid Assault Armors code-named EVANGELION, developed by humanity for the war against the Angels," Dr. Akagi related, going over the specifications in her mind. "Specifically, these are Eva Units-00 and 01, the prototype and Test-type versions, the ultimate result derived from a fusion of several confluences."
As rather advanced combat exoskeletons, the Evangelions were designed to vastly improve the strength, speed, agility, reflexes and durability of the user. On the technological side alone, they were composed of a multilayered alloy of remarkable strength and augmented with a refractive coating capable of dispersing a limited amount of directed energy, in addition to a layer of liquid metal crystal that amplified force, tripling lifting capacity and increasing reaction time by a factor of ten (aided by the fact that its control system was neural-linked). Hardened against EMP and radiation, with filters completely effective at removing toxins and bacteria from local atmosphere, and featuring an uplink to the MAGI for communication, health monitoring and restoration, it was considered the premier battlesuit on the face of the planet.
The rest, Ritsuko was not at liberty to describe, but curiously enough, despite their advanced origins, the Evangelion armors reminded Shinji of nothing so much as two suits of medieval armor, one colored a stark, matte black, while the other was gunmetal grey accented here and there with blue highlights.
"This…this is Father's work?" the Third Child asked, finding his voice after several moments just lost in thought, as a sense of familiarity nagged at him, as if there was something here he should recognize, but could not.
Snap-hiss!
But, he had no time to ponder this, as a heretofore unseen panel in the upper part of the room hissed open, with the rather sinister black-clad figure of Gendo Ikari, Supreme Commander of NERV, appearing in silhouette, backlit by a powerful white light.
"Correct," the shadowed one spoke, his gaze coming to rest upon the tense figure of his son. "It has been a long time…"
"Father…" Shinji whispered, features hardening as images of their final meeting in the rain flashed through his mind. He wondered what the one who abandoned him would say next, would give as an excuse for—
Unfortunately, any illusions that reconciliation might yet be possible were shattered by the Commander's actual words, the order to "Move out."
"Move out?" Misato questioned incredulously, looking up at where the Commander stood. "But Rei is in no condition to use Unit 00…" She trailed off as she recognized that the Commander wasn't kidding. "You plan to use the Third in Unit 01?"
"Of course," Dr. Akagi spoke up, turning to the Director of Operations. "And the Fourth in Unit 00."
"But even in the case of Rei Ayanami, it took her a full seven months to become acclimated to EVA," Misato protested. It wasn't that she didn't accept the necessity of having children use the battlesuits against the enemies—only that the odds of success in this case were so astronomically low that Ritsuko had dubbed it the Oni (for .0000000001 percent chance) system.
"We don't have a choice, Captain Katsuragi," the bottle-blonde said with finality. "Stopping the Angel's attack has top priority. Besides, didn't you consider this outcome as a possibility when you delivered the Children to this location?"
"You may be right," Misato murmured, throwing the switch inside her mind to kill her emotions as she did before every battle. "In that case, Shinji Ikari, Mana Ryougi, please make preparations for launch. Dr. Akagi will walk you through putting on the Evangelion armors."
Knowing that it was futile to argue, and further knowing her duty in this case (given that they would die anyway, and that if nothing else, this would give them a fighting chance), Mana moved to comply, moving towards the gunmetal and blue suit of EVA-00. Shinji, however, had other ideas.
"Father, why did you call me here?" the Third Child all but demanded, his blue eyes meeting only the reflective surface of his father's orange sunglasses.
"For exactly the reasons you think" was the reply he received.
"Then," Shinji said, his body beginning to tremble with incredulous anger. "You mean I should get into the armor and fight that thing I saw? That thing which shrugged off an N2 mine?"
"Correct. Because no one else can," came the cool, impassive reply. "I called you now because I need you now."
"But I can't do this," Shinji insisted. "I've neither seen nor heard of this before, never fought anything like that…thing…before. So…why me?"
"And what about one year ago?" the rumbling voice of Gendo inquired, a question that sent a chill down the Third Child's spine.
'A year ago?' Shinji thought, digging back into his memory—and visibly stumbling as images of the past came to the forefront of his mind. Images of a silvery blade, a river, and… 'Blood…blood, oh god, so much blood. It can't…it can't…it can't…a year ago…I…I…I…'
"No... I can't..." he said out loud, an expression of naked pain flashing across his face. "It's impossible!"
'If I fight it…I'll die. I'll die…I'll…'
Rumble.
Finally, after several long seconds, the Commander merely shook his head, as the base was suddenly rocked by a powerful blast.
"Third Child, if you're going to do this, don't waste time. Otherwise, leave," Gendo said at last, a final remark that silenced the room, with the scattered personnel within it looking on at the father-son dispute. "That thing seems to have found us."
Rumble.
Another quake this time, larger in intensity, one that sent Shinji to the ground as pain shot through his extremities, which Gendo took as a firm "no."
"Very well then," the Supreme Commander intoned, pressing a button to trigger the intercom. "Fuyutuski—wake Rei. The Third turned out to be useless."
But as activity raged about them, with maintenance crews hustling-bustling about, and Shinji finally picking himself off the ground, a single voice cut through the hubbub, one he knew all too well.
"Well then, Shinji-kun," came the electronically amplified voice of Mana Ryougi from inside the mobile armor of EVA-00, a voice tinged with resignation and not a little irony. "Then I'll just have to take your place again, won't I?"
At that, Shinji sprang to his feet and whirling about—only to see (and hear) his worst fears confirmed, as EVA-00, with Mana in it, was hurtled up on the launch platform to confront the Angel above—alone.
'No…it can't be,' he thought to himself, a terrible realization blossoming in his mind as Unit-00 disappeared from sight. 'Could it be that I…'
(Un)fortunately for the hapless Third Child, his thoughts were cut off once again by the door hissing open, with the bandaged, critically injured figure of Rei Ayanami being wheeled in on a hospital bed, features utterly impassive as she observed her surroundings.
'Wait…she's going to have to—'
Crash!
A very powerful shockwave shook the room this time, as the Angel attacked again with one of its powerful blasts, its demonic roaring audible even from underground. The First Child was knocked to the floor, spilled from her bed by the quake, only able to watch as from above, the sound of whistling came as a piece of debris plummeted down, down, dow—
"Watch out!" Shinji barked, moving quicker than thought, and—
Slash!
—somehow managed to close the distance between himself and Ayanami, whirling in midair as he utterly destroyed the piece of the ceiling that would have otherwise cut into the form of the blue-haired girl, slashing it apart with twin blades conjured from the darkest shadows, vampiric blades that cried out shrilly for blood and devastation in the room of white.
Not a figure moved in the cavern in the wake of the sudden movement, with most surprised—and some afraid of the Third Child's demonstration of his abilities. None save for the Third Child, that was, who dispelled his blades to look down at the injured girl below him, whose body was tense with agony, with blood soaking through the bandages and…
'A hint of crystal along one of her wounds…? Then its…its the sa-'
"I'll do it."
A clear, determined voice rang in the silence, as Shinji spoke without conscious thought.
"What was that, Third Child?" Commander Gendo Ikari asked from his viewing platform. "Speak once more and make your intentions clear."
A minor pause, as Shinji glared up at his father, the agony evident on Rei's face mirrored upon his.
"I said, I'll do it," the Third intoned, voice hoarse, body trembling, but out of what, he wasn't sure. "I'll get into the EVA Armor—I'll fight against the Angel!"
The next few minutes were a blur, as Shinji found himself led to the battlesuit, where he was quickly instructed on the basics of using it, and helped into the combat exoskeleton by the many aides, a blur that came to an end with one word.
"Launch."
Streets of Tokyo-3, VS Sachiel
As the armored form of the Third Child hurled towards the surface for his confrontation with Sachiel, a journey that Mana had already undertaken minutes before, Shinji found that his body was acting rather strange, as if it was the first time he was going into battle, something he accepted with resignation, not surprise , as the monster before him was something that naught had been able to oppose…something he could not imagine defeating.
'Guh...'
Strange aches, pains, terrors shot through his veins as if filling every inch of him, screaming at him to run, to flee certain death—but he suppressed that with the mantra he found himself chanting every time he came into a situation he would rather not be in.
'I mustn't run away…I mustn't run away…I mustn't run away…'
Yet the body could not comprehend the reason why he thought this, why he thought it necessary to face certain death, and so could not suppress its reactions in the face of fear. Nature sent an impulse for the body to run away in the face of death—an impulse that was surely strong and accurate, having preserved the species for thousands of years. To go against this impulse was to go against the natural way, so it was only natural for the heart and breathing to lose composure, for the body to respond to this blasphemy by enraging itself, the beast within snarling as, embracing the paradox of destruction, Shinji accepted his likely demise.
Light.
There was no need for his eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness, as a special filter in the battlesuit did that for him, in addition to splashing up icons in his view that showed him that he was but half a kilometer from his target, with EVA-00 already engaging, seeming like a gadfly against the massive bulk of the implacable angel.
'So EVA can fl—'
—his thought was left uncompleted as he flung himself into a run, six shadowy wings (like his blades) wrought of Ether emerging from the back of his armor and lifting him from the ground.
'—y?'
More than just a marvel of technology, the EVA units were a fusion of the best that alchemy, magecraft, and technology together were capable of producing—as demonstrated in this case, where it used the law of similarity to focus and amplify an Ether Liner's ability to manipulate the very Ether in the environment.
So focusing his will, Shinji flew, hurtling towards the Angel…
Whirr! Vrrrrr!
Having launched some time ago, deploying her ether-forged katana, Mana was finding the battle against the Third Angel every bit as difficult as she expected, what with the hulking figure much more agile than something that size had any right to be, not to mention its spontaneous generation of blades that had nearly skewered her a dozen times, yet her blue eyes were grim with resolve, as every part of her was focused on holding the Angel back—on stopping it even at the cost of her life. Because if she didn't, someone else would have to…
'If I don't, then—'
Slam!
An ominously glowing lance of violet energy hurtled towards her, something that couldn't be evaded—and which she barely blocked by interposing her blade with the weapon of her opponent—keeping her from being cut in half, as—
Crunch!
—she was smashed into the side of a building with enough force to crack the glass and stone of its construction.
"Kuh!" Mana groaned, willing the suit to move once more, barely lifting off and shooting away before—
BOOM!
—the building was utterly destroyed by a trio of cross-shaped blasts, with the ensuing shockwave nearly knocking her from the sky again, though she managed to pull back, avoiding the brunt of the attack, though the sheer amount of energy contained in it was enough to shake her nerves.
'Such overwhelming power…' the Fourth Child thought to herself, swallowing as she lifted her blade yet again, the jet-black katana in her hand flaring with blue fire as she shot through the air, using every ounce of control she had over the Ether element to avoid counterattack. 'But I won't give up…as long as I'm conscious, as long as my sword is in my hand…I can fight…'
That she was conscious at all after that blow was a miracle in and of itself, since any ordinary human would have died—at least if they were unprotected. Even having prevented the lance of energy from piercing them through, the transferred momentum and force of impact would likely have crushed their organs to mush. Thankfully, one of the other effects of the gel/liquid metal layer built into the suit was to act as cushion, with the Ether layer projected around the armor diffusing some of the impact's force—with the material itself having been subjected to the strongest of reinforcement spells.
Slash, slash, slash, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut!
Again and again she darted at the monstrous foe, her blade crashing down again and again as approached a certain distance—and met resistance, the Angel blocking with some kind of shield of orange hexagons, as a voice in her ear babbled something about an AT Field.
'I can erode it, since my blade slices into it, but—'
Vrr!
—if she committed herself to the attack, putting everything she had into offense, Mana thought that might be able to get past the Angel's defenses, but…in the time it took for her to do so, one of the Angel's attacks would likely hit home.
'But I don't have a choice,' she thought bleakly, gripping her blade tightly, panting as she evaded yet another series of strikes from the hulking figure, a sweep of the lance, a blow of the hand, two cross-flares. 'No one is coming to help, and I can't keep this up much longer…'
Combat, after all, was one of the most tiring things that a person could be engaged in, especially when one had to move excessively just to survive. As opposed to fighting the Dead, who all but threw themselves on her sword…this foe was on a completely different level, a being relentless and powerful, capable of using the same style of weapon she was, but on a higher order of ability.
Drawing every last scrap of energy she could from the air and from her body, Mana attacked one final time, the light of the sword in her hand building and converging as she streaked through the air, her blade stabbed down—
Fzztt!
—and vibrating as its power to disrupt defense warred against the light of the soul upon which no one might intrude.
'Just a little more, just a little…'
Shatter! WHOOSH!
Two things happened at the same time—the AT field, struck at a single point by a power the Angel had not expected, shattered like glass, but before Mana could close the final meters to the Angel's core, a powerful cross-flare struck her full on, hurling her away and dispelling her weapons.
'No…No…NOOOOOOOO…'
That was what Shinji arrived just in time to see—the stricken form of Mana being blasted by a cross-flare by his foe—and so, felt a stab of overwhelming hate and anger boiling up from within him like a thousand blades tearing through his soul.
Acting by instinct alone, the Third Child altered his course and dispelled his blades, shadowy wings flickering as he flashed towards the Fourth's plummeting form, taking care to match her downward velocity as he caught her in his arms and slowly—slowly, leveled out. For he knew like anyone else that it was not a fall that killed someone, but the shock of impact—and that for him to stop her suddenly would be the equivalent of her hitting the ground at terminal velocity—all the more so if he came up to meet her.
Or perhaps it was just instinct that knew this, though either way Shinji managed to pluck Mana's tumbling form from the air, noting with horror how burned through some of the armor was—the EVA battlesuit having taken too much damage to remain functional from that last assault because she had put every ounce of power she possessed into attacking the Angel.
'Again…it happened…again…I…I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away…I MUSTN'T RUN AWAY!'
Faster, faster, faster he flew, setting Mana's fallen form gently down upon the tunnel to the entrance of NERV from where he had issued moments earlier, breathing a sigh of relief as the platform began to carry his friend back down into the darkness.
Fsh!
And then Shinji shot up into the sky once more, his twin blades extending to an extent greater than ever before as they responded to his will, their edges howling out of a maddened desire for blood as darkness infused his very soul.
"NNUUAAAAA!" the Third Child screamed, letting forth a savage wail that shook all those watching (and listening), his movements a blur as his shadow exploded from his form, blitzing for the Angel with all his might—
—only for the Angel to recognize him too, as a threat—perhaps even a bigger one than his erstwhile partner in arms, especially with its AT Field finally down, as it immediately cut loose with a flurry of slashes, generating another lance to repel the intruder into its space.
Clash! Slam! Blam!
Shadowy blades met glowing spikes of condensed energy, but could not break through, the Angel's superior mass and surprising speed lending its blows much more force than Shinji Ikari could manage to counter with, seeking to bat him back and—
WHOOSH!
—cut loose with another barrage of cross-flares, which the Third Child evaded, one after another, resorting to instinct alone as the brilliant light of the blasts blinded him, barely managing to escape the blasts as—
Squelch!
—he was skewered by a lance of light that cut through his protective armor and smashed into his gut, blowing away half his torso in an instant as he lost control of the Ether he was manipulating, the shock of overwhelming pain and cold shutting his body down as he coughed up blood, black spots dancing in his vision as he lost altitude, spiraling towards the ground below—
Thud!
—only to crash into the flat roof of a skyscraper with a painful crunch, feeling as if most of his body had been smashed apart. Having failed to stop the Angel, it was now only a matter of time before everyone in the city died.
'No...I've failed...I've...'
Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.
His bones creaked as he tried to put power into his limbs, almost as if they were made of metal, as consciousness faded, faded, faded, but as everything went black, he thought he saw a flash of red, as if light were glinting from a stone.
NERV Bridge, Tokyo-3
All was silent in the command bridge of NERV Headquarters as the gathered staff watched first the Fourth Child, then the Third, be utterly defeated in battle, their best efforts at resistance proven futile. The Children lay broken, mankind's defenses wrecked, and it seemed that the fifteen years of preparation for the threat of the Angels had merely gone to waste.
"What's...what's the status?" Misato found herself asking, all the while knowing that there could be no surviving a wound of that nature.
"The Evangelion armor is completely silent," the mousy Maya Ibuki, one of the bridge technicians, replied. "The uplink was apparently damaged by the last attack. Life or death unknown."
"Well, so much for that..." the Director of NERV Operations said with a heavy heart, bitter over the fact that they had failed and now would likely die. "Stop the operation, retrieval of the pilot has top priorit—"
"ARUUUAAAGGGGGNUARRGGHHHHHHHH!"
She was cut off as a bestial roar of pain and absolute rage sounded over the intercom, with one signal from the mobile armor apparently not cut off.
"Ma'am, anomalous energy flux detected..." Maya reported, as a spike in power made itself known. "Its...its the Third Child!"
"But that's..."
Word died in her mouth as she took in the visage of the Third Child in his Evangelion armor, a figure who as now standing once again, body wreathed in a maelstrom of shadow and wind rippled around him, two jet black longswords in his hands, six wings of absolute darkness drinking in all light and heat from its surroundings, so that one could see frost bloom across the building's every face.
"GYWAOOOOOOOOOOAAA!"
A soul-rending screech echoed through the command center as the demonic form of Shinji Ikari howled defiance at the Angel, which turned back to him, roaring as it recognized him as a greater threat than before.
Two blows loosed at once, faster than the eye could see.
WHOOSH-BOOM!
A cross-flare, more powerful than any previously recorded, wiping everything that stood before the Angel.
Slash!
An attack sundered by the onrushing form of Evangelion Unit-01, the darkness held in its hands and wreathing its form drinking greedily of the insane levels of power being thrown at it, swords rippling, spinning together as an omnipresent whine made itself known-
Rumble-CRASH!
—as the twin blades struck home, piercing the Angel's core and releasing a tremendous gale of darkness—a powerful misama that blinded sensors, cut off all visibility, painting the world black—a vision of death that sent a resounding chill through the souls of all that saw it, giving them the impression of staring deep into the abyss from which all came, and to which all would one day return.
When it faded away, and sensors came back online, the first thing the bridge crew noted was the absence of the Angel in the skyline, as its fresh carcass lay immobile upon the ground, having crushed several buildings as it toppled over. And standing upon the Angel's mask, head thrown back in quiet laughter, was the Third Child, whose figure shook as the cackling grew to terrifying intensity-before he fell silent, going perfectly still, and as if a puppet with cut strings, collapsed atop the titan he had slain.
"The target...has gone silent," Maya Ibuki said, finding her voice after long moments of stunned silence. "Survival of the Third...is confirmed."
A/N: Sorry about the long delay-multiple computer problems do not make it easy for me to get these out, so I appreciate your patience with me. As always, thank you for reading, and any feedback you have is much appreciated, as it helps me to make the story better. :)
