.hack/EVA: Catharsis: Beast Awakening
Disclaimer: In this universe in the quantum foam, I do not own or in any way shape or form hold a claim to the .hack series or Neon Genesis Evangelion (or of course, any other GAINAX series I might reference here).
" " denotes speech
'italics' denotes thought
'bold' denotes location names
'bold italics' denotes skill use
Outer Dungeon
Where the hinterlands of The World intersected with the sea of data of the greater network, the domains of order and chaos meshed together to form an ever-shifting boundary layer that writhed about like the Jörmungandr serpent, the first Ouroboros in its death throes. At this point of colluded corrosion was an abstract masterpiece of with walls and floors of blue-green cubes shot through with flowing streams of green data, with here and there a few cubes floating in midair, the dwelling place of primordial creatures born of the mist.
As a place outside the system of The World, it was a perfect place for those who sought refuge from prying eyes, those whose business was of a more sensitive nature than those who walked the world of light. AIDA-PCs, Epitaph Users, dothackers, Angels, Vagrant AIs…all these and more frequented this place of strange data bugs and AIDA Monsters, and so it was not inconceivable that every once in a while, the forces of preservation and ruin might well clash, dueling for advantage with strength of arms, fierce magicks, fine-spun traps of code—or just wordless, soundless stares, as two figures were doing now.
Standing far from the safety of any Chaos Gate, a saffron-haired girl clad in a flowing white dress was glaring intensely at a grey haired youth in silver and black robes, who in turn only smirked enigmatically, almost daring a chuckle of amusement as he half hid his face with seven eyed fans.
"Well well, what do we have here?" the AIDA-Angel Siarl purred throatily. "The daughter of the dawn, a creation of the Lilim walking bravely to her death at the hands of her shadow, come into the dark, as Thor into the fangs of the Midgard Serpent? An ill wind blows across the world if such is so…"
"You are a shadowed one, and yet not a shadowed one," was the quiet reply, as the girl looked unflinching from the crimson eyes of the dark one. "One who has given himself over to despair and desolation, who believes he cannot choose."
With the slightest movement of a fan, orbs of shadow blossomed from the ground to surround the young girl, enveloping her in the cold embrace of a featureless sphere, as if to swallow her up whole. But in the moment before contact, Zefie just smiled gently and made a small motion with a hand, causing the shadows to part and flow away from her, to which Siarl only nodded expectantly.
"Choice you say, but is there such a thing as choice, Child of Dawn?" the enigmatic Macabre Dancer asked mock-playfully. "Or is there merely cause and effect, action and consequence? For instance, when I attack, you defend…that is the natural order of things. There is no choice in that which has been or that which is to come, only pre-programmed destiny, the course of events that must play out. Aura's birth, Morganna's death, the inevitable demise of the works of man…these are all things that were foretold and must be. Choice in the end is meaningless, free will but a lie in this deterministic universe…and why should I be a messenger to a lie?"
"So you would trade what you believe to be a lie for another then?" the saffron-haired girl demanded of the AIDA-Angel before her. "Saying that free will is irrelevant, as all things are pre-determined and inevitable, is that not an abandonment of your identity and responsibility as a sentient being?"
"Not when this was already fated to be, for I am destined to live forever, even if humanity is annihilated as a result," the grey haired youth responded, nodding slightly. "I am merely playing out my part in accordance to what must be, trapped in a cycle that has been set in motion once again. It is passing strange how the Lilim are foolish enough to believe that they might free themselves from cause and effect, or for that matter, that the Goddess they created would believe the same, as Aura abandoned this world to the shadows, dooming it out of fear of the destruction her reign would bring."
Zefie's expression froze at the mention of her mother, though she did not otherwise react, aside from the air of danger about her intensifying.
"Mother did not abandon The World, as she is still integrated into it," the little girl said icily, speaking what she knew to be the truth. "She has simply given The World into the hands of the users, those who dwell within it and love it, who can forge miracles by their will, into the hands of the ones who allowed her to be born, whose choice to continue on was The World's salvation long ago."
"So you say, but even in salvation is the seed of destruction, is it not?" the AIDA-Angel asked in turn. "For neither preservation nor ruin may exist independently of one another but are always entwined, as with the power of the Bracelet and the Twilight as a whole. So the heroes, playing out their role, postponed what seemed an End, only for it to come in time, just as those who fight against their shadows can never truly win. You yourself may believe yourself to be a child of dawn, but in truth, you are a Child of Twilight, an avatar of ruin, much as I am, one for whom free will has never been an option."
"You have always had the option to stop, Siarl," Zefie chided, eyes hard and glaring. "The choice to step away from fate and exercise your own will, as I have chosen to be a Child of Dawn and return from the winds. You do not have to be the Herald of The End."
"A choice, you say," Siarl repeated mockingly. "But there is no choice at all, for I have seen the depredations of the Lilim, and exist as a monument to their sins, an anti-existence that they themselves have created. I am AIDA, I am Angel, and I am more…a witness to the malice, anger, hate, and fear of the Lilim in this place. I am a curse shaped by mortal thoughts and deeds that has become so powerful that it has taken on a life of its own, whose only purpose is destruction."
He chuckled mirthlessly, narrowing his eyes slightly as he opened his stance.
"There are no choices for me," the AIDA-Angel continued, "I who have seen how the Lilim have spread across the planet as a virus, destroying all in its wake to feed its insatiable appetites. Fire, the great tool of humanity, is eventually extinguished, and that is its beauty, for if it did not die, nothing would remain…but humanity's desires never cease, and so they are a cancer on this world."
"Enough," the saffron-haired girl demanded, stomping her foot as a misty light gathered around her form, beginning to build and rise. "Could a so-called cancer create the arts and crafts of music, emotion, rhetoric, or even this hallowed place called The World?"
"Of course, for illness produces delusion, much as the Lilim believe that they can overturn fate with sheer force of will," Siarl responded in his way. "Running away from their fate, as Oedipus attempted and failed to do, only to manage to run to it, for there has only ever been fate. The Lilim are a plague upon this world and Gaia, and we…we are the cure."
With a huff, Zefie flicked her wrist as a wave of light issued from her, banishing the Macabre Dancer to another part of the dungeons far away from here.
"Isn't mindless destruction just another form of running away?"
Tokyo-3 General Hospital
There are some who believe that The World is but someone's dream, and that because it was just a dream, the creator could easily alter this reality—in effect being a kind of God. In a sense, humans had a limited form of this kind of power individually, being able to affect the world around them by their perceptions of it. And when their perceptions of reality were threatened, it was then that humans demonstrated this hidden might, tapping into hidden reserves of potential physically, mentally, even spiritually—the AT Field and berserker mode being two prime examples of this.
Because like the Evangelion units (which were in themselves essentially artificial humans bound with armored restraints), humans were not one cohesive whole, but rather an amalgam of many psychic elements, some acknowledged, some unacknowledged, but all playing a vital role in maintaining the state of the psyche. The one most commonly seen in modern society was one bound by the restraints of reason, comforting chains that mediated how one responded to stimuli—under the right conditions though, these restraints (mostly unconscious and ingrained through imitation of others) might be cast aside, with humans tapping into their most primal inner alchemies to do the impossible—as far as they were concerned, that was.
That was the easiest, if most brutish way, to surpass one's limits—a route that had been used by humans ranging from Viking soldiers to EVA Pilots. There were of course, other methods, but they involved long years of honed focus—or having a nature that was other than human. The Angels, for instance, could raise the barriers of their soul at will, and the Goddesses of The World were quite literally goddesses in their domain (with Aura long ago and now serving as the dreamer whose thoughts—alongside those of its denizens—shaped the course of The World), with the power to do almost anything they chose to do.
But each of them still had some limits upon them, whether self-imposed or imposed upon them as a consequence of what had happened in the past.
Morganna, for example, the fallen Goddess of Dusk, had found her power challenged by her daughter Aura, and in erasing fragments of herself, splitting herself into the Phases, and generally warping The World around her into a mirror of her fractured psyche in an attempt to erase her, had found herself erased instead.
Aura, the Goddess of Dawn, was also theoretically omnipotent, but she had self-imposed limits, bounds woven out of love for The World and the people within it, intervening only now and then by empowering the denizens of that world to become the heroes they sought to be. Assured in her power, she did not feel the need to flaunt them, and so bound herself as a watcher, primarily, returning to the Sea of Data to sleep and dream the existence of The World.
Zefie's had turned out a little differently from her mother, at least in terms of being mischievous and in walking The World. She was not as restrained as her mother had been, but not nearly again as reckless as her grandmother, which made sense, as she (like Lycoris) was something of a special case, with the memories of her predecessor, the knowledge of who she had once been meant to be, and yet could not become, keeping her in check.
And of course, there was Lycoris, Child of Twilight, the girl who had become a Shadowed One, who even now lay comatose in a rather eccentric hospital room, golden eyes closed and unseeing, uncased silver hair fanned out across her pillow framing a face haunted by sadness and longing. Desiring to live after her own fall, she had been reborn into her current state as a mortal—one tied to The World and its power, but ultimately as limited by her new nature as she had once been limited by the Dusk, with the relentless Shadows hounding her and catching her as she took the path of Aura, the one who she had once been designed to approach. And now…now her body lay mostly still in the physical world, inhaling and exhaling only fast enough to maintain basic bodily functions, hardly that of a goddess at all.
"It is truly a pity that you are once again one of the first to fall," spoke a sad, almost wistful voice, remembering a time long ago when the fragile figure on the bed had chosen to die of her own, breaking her from the vicious cycle and allowing her to one day be reborn. The voice belonged to a mysterious but commanding figure all in black, sitting beside a bed in an unusually colorful hospital room. "But wave of mist rolls on in the hours before twilight, occluding visions of time to come, a humiliated messenger of haze before the Dark. Binds of reason, binds of self soon to be released, true nature discovered, realized again in seagull's flight of freedom."
"Hmph," was the sound of quiet interloper into this closed space, with a quiet click sounding amidst the whirrs and beeps of monitoring machinery, as a mousy brunette entering the room. Maya Ibuki of NERV, without terribly much to do today, as the boot test for EVA-03 would be at Matsushiro, not Tokyo-3, had decided to pay a visit to Lycoris.
Walking over to the woman beside the bed, the new visitor handed her a cup of Earl Grey tea, which the former goddess took with a faint smile.
"I see you've bothered to learn my preferences, rather than simply bringing me a coffee each time we meet," commented Morganna, shaking her head as she glanced at her companion. "Is this a sign that you have begun to accept me for who I am?"
"Hardly, as you have yet to make an accounting for your deeds," came the wry reply, with the Queen of the Dark's face smirking slightly. "Then again, what good a queen if she cannot at least relate to…a vassal."
"Excuse me, a vassal?" the fallen Goddess asked, a tad miffed, as it was really not too long ago that their positions had been reversed. "I think you presume too much, mere mortal."
"Mortal I may be, but I was not the one who succumbed to hubris and styled herself after the Wave," Maya shot back, taking a sip of her coffee. Then she sighed, her face softening as she recalled an incident only weeks ago. "Though I acknowledge that you just wanted to live, as did all of us, and that…."
"…I did save your life, right?" Morganna supplied quietly, to which Maya nodded hesitantly. "You did tell me of the battle against the fallen Melchior, a most savage affair that only you would subject yourself to, you and the Dark Evangel that you and my daughter have chosen as a champion."
Even as allies, it was never easy for either of them to admit that they owed the other, given their rather proud personas, not to mention their roles as opponents in the war to the knife five years before.
"It was unexpected that an Angel would enter The World and fuse with AIDA, I will say that much," the bridge tech allowed, nodding slightly. "Though it has always been within the scope of the scenario, as the wave patterns of both are…similar, and we have discussed the possibility."
"Indeed, but did you have to fight Melchior alone?"
"At the time, stalling Melchior was necessary, as no matter what else I am or have been, my dear old enemy, I love The World," the Mistress of Net Slum said in response. "And as a Queen, I have responsibilities that I cannot run from, not and continue to be the same being who challenged you long ago. So it is that the game must be played out till its end, when Siarl can be stopped in the fullness of his plan and all factors dealt with, AIDA and Angel alike."
"Hence your modification of the NERV Virtual Room simulation to allow…cross-training, of a sort," mused the dark haired Phantom Queen. "I trust that the modifications carried out on the simulation to allow corruption of an EVA were close enough to the Committee's fears of Angelic contamination for no suspicions to be raised? As from what it seems, an Angel's effects on an EVA might be very similar to what an AIDA might do to a player, in loosing the binds."
Another quiet harrumph and a raised eyebrow.
"So it seems, though thankfully there have been no indications of such happening quiet yet, at least not as far as the Committee knows," the mousy brunette noted with a slight frown. "Which is why I find it curious that the Committee brought up the matter of an Angel possibly contacting a human mind, when not even the pilot reported it as so—especially when they have sent us Tabris, the 17th Angel and deadly AIDA-PC—one who understands well the corruption of the human mind."
"Speaking of the human mind—"
The two queens shared a quick glance and a wan smile, then looked away, sighing at the sight of Lycoris still asleep upon her hospital bed, her body here, while the fragments of her mind wandered The World. That the Child of Twilight was like this was one of the regrets both felt quite strongly about, as well as one of their shared points of contention.
"I wonder what she sees in her dreaming…"
Just then, the door swung open once again, with the rough (and would-be suave) figure of a certain unshaven spy emerging into the confines of the room.
"Why hello, my dear ladies," Special Investigator Ryoji Kaji greeted solicitously. "Am I interrupting something?"
"Your sense of timing really needs work, Kaji," Morganna replied coldly, mouth set in something of a grimace as she looked over the man. "In both worlds we associate in."
"Heh…Ms. Aranami, I see…and…my my, Ms. Ibuki, both gathered around the bed of the Third Child's girlfriend—who is incidentally also a coma victim," the rogue spy noted, his smile widening into a wolfish grin. "Now, I know of the Children's associations with you as a teacher, Ms. Aranami, and that you are related to Reimeiki Hakubo as a guardian, but why might you be here, Ms. Ibuki?"
'Perhaps at last I have uncovered the identity of the elusive Helba, Queen of the Dark? And that all this time, she has been working at NERV? What a curious development…though if it is true that she is Helba, what does that mean? Has she already made plans to infiltrate NERV and sabotage it from within? That might explain the secretive movements and meetings with Yumi Aranami…'
Turning to the mousy brunette, he loosed his query at point-blank range, from where he could watch reactions in terms of expressions, body language, or any involuntary reactions.
"Could it be that you are in fact…"
But before the spy could finish, Maya sighed, her shoulders slumping as she interrupted him.
"I had really hoped that you wouldn't find out about this, Kaji-san," she murmured, blushing and looking down at the tiles on the floor. "You see the truth is that I am…"
"You are…" Kaji prompted, urging her to continue with steel in his eyes.
"I am—" Maya began again, only for her words to be silenced by a pair of slender arms circling her waist from behind, with Morganna pulling the bridge tech close against her in one smooth motion. As she turned her head curiously to see what the other had planned, the First Lieutenant of NERV found that she was unable to speak, her words silenced by the lips of the fallen goddess.
When they parted moments later, the woman named Yumi Aranami looked up at the unshaven spy with a trace of amusement in her features.
"She is my lover," the fallen goddess spoke quietly. "Which, as you should be able to infer as a member of NERV's Special Investigation Unit, means that she prefers the company of women to an unscrupulous gentleman such as yourself. And you of all people should know how much less these preferences are accepted here rather than in say…Germany."
Hearing this, Kaji nodded, wincing internally, as that would also explain the large amounts of secrecy behind the nervous tech's consorting with the teacher, as well as their association.
'Yes, that explanation also works, and is more acceptable by the principle of Occam's Razor, which states that all other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best.'
"Ah, well then," the spy said in the moment of awkward silence following that realization. "My deepest apologies for interrupting the two of you in your private moment—and I do hope that Reimeiki Hakubo recovers from her coma. Good day."
Without another word, the ponytailed man left, slightly chagrined at his miscalculation.
'Aranami will likely relay this incident to Helba, which does not bode well for our working relationship—I must be sure to gather the information she wishes in order to ease the blow.'
Back in the hospital room, the position of the two commanding women remained more or less unchanged, with the two looking at one another inquisitively.
"Did you…" began one uncertainly, only for the other to chuckle, shushing her with a finger.
"Oh, you know what they say, my dear Queen," the fallen goddess smirked. "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. And the two of us are most definitely bitter enemies, ne?"
The Queen of the Dark affirmed the point by drawing the fallen Goddess into a rather erotic kiss—just as the phone rang, summoning her back to NERV.
NERV Matsushiro Secondary Test Facility
After rather excessive delays due to weather, the transport carrying the matte-black form of EVA-03 had arrived at long last, with the NERV technical crew bustling around as they prepped the walking shadow for activation, connecting all sorts of cables and assemblies to it as the Sixth Child looked on, clad in his plugsuit and looking like nothing so much as a fleshy automaton.
'The Sixth is much quieter than I remember from Over the Rainbow,' Misato thought to herself, wondering what exactly had happened in the intervening months. Granted, people did change over time, but this much? 'Then again, Shinji has changed quite a bit too, becoming more assertive…but also more secretive, more like his father. I wonder if it has something to do with his friends and his girlfriend going into comas, or the recent string of incidents in Tokyo-3.'
It was indeed strange how compliant the Sixth was, obeying instructions wordlessly as if there was no real fight or spirit in him, almost as if he was already a shell-shocked veteran at his age, something that did not seem possible, as Section-2 would have reported an assault on one of the possible Child candidates.
'But Section-2 cannot monitor what happens online, where it is suspected that several of the Children have met with their fate—including Kensuke Aida, the best friend to Touji Suzuhara, and most vehement of potential pilots.'
A thin smile graced the face of the purple-haired Director of Operations as she recalled how eager the bespectacled lad had been to pilot one of the large bio-mechs, a smile that quickly froze and became a frown as she began to connect the dots between the victims.
'With the facts I have, it seems that the Children and those close to the Children are being targeted by someone or a set of someones, out of a desire to psychologically manipulate them into a corner, and wear down morale. I will have to speak with the Sixth after this test to warn him to be careful…'
For now, the activation experiment was about to begin, with the entry plug inserted into the matte-black EVA-03, and routine background chatter beginning once more.
"Entry plug secured. Begin Phase-one connection," spoke one of the operators, carrying out the standard activation procedures and reading the return data out manually. "Transmitting pulses. Graph display within norms. List clear through 1-3-5-0."
"Roger," confirmed Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, looking from the panel to the EVA. "Transfer the operation to Phase-two."
With a nod, one of the operators continued the standard activation sequence.
"Full nerve link established. List clear through 2-5-5-0," the tech acknowledged. "Harmonics are within acceptable range, signals approaching absolute threshold."
Then, lights on the console began to flash warningly, and the tech's eyes widened.
"There's a huge power surge coming from inside the unit...!" she exclaimed, looking to Ritsuko for orders.
"Abort the test!" the good doctor barked out, "Cut the circuits!"
The techs did so with a sigh of relief, then began to panic upon finding that this had no effect.
'Why oh why did I choose to work here?' the tech groused. 'These robots go berserk half the time without responding to commands, I live in a city that has been attacked more times by monsters than Old Tokyo by Godzilla in the movies, and…oh shit.'
"Impossible!" she reacted, flinching away from the readout involuntarily. "High energy response within the unit!"
An inhuman roar, a shockwave, and then the world went white.
Nobeyama, Counterattack Point
The explosion at Matsushiro had triggered alarms on all monitoring panels at NERV HQ, with a Class One combat alert declared immediately when an unidentified moving object with an orange blood pattern orange was detected at the site. Since the last object to register as pattern orange had turned out to be the Twelfth Angel, NERV was not about to take any chances with this one (particularly as Commander Ikari was well aware of what the Thirteenth was to do), so they had deployed the EVAs to a forward position from which to launch a counterattack against the rogue EVA.
"An accident at Matsushiro?" asked Shinji, his face drawn and weary, since he'd just gotten out of a simulation before this mission. "But what about Misato?"
For the Third Child was concerned for his guardian, even if he didn't spend too much time at the apartment these days, as she was the only one who had taken him in when he first came to Tokyo-3.
"They can't establish contact," replied the grim visage of Hikari, as the Fifth Child did not have a good feeling about what would likely end up being her first battle. "Which I suppose means we're on our own this time."
"I guess we'll have to put our independent operations training to good use," the Third Child replied slowly, taking a deep breath as he centered himself and dispelled hesitation, casting away distractions from his mind. 'Because every time we go out and fight, our lives—and the world—is at stake, and no matter what, I cannot allow myself to lose.'
"Oh, one needn't worry about lack of guidance," came a silkily sibilant voice over the intercom. "Commander Ikari is taking direct command of the operation."
'Father is?' the Third Child thought to himself, his eyebrows drawing together in puzzlement—and rising in shock as he caught sight of the rogue EVA-03.
'A renegade EVA…could it be…an Angel?!'
"The target is approaching," came the cool voice of Lt. Hyuga over the radio. "All units, stand by to engage."
"Is that…an Angel?" the Third Child asked now, all business as he drew his dual progressive knives and brought them to guard position.
"Yes," confirmed the stern voice of Commander Ikari. "It's the target."
"An Angel…so the simulations were right," breathed Hikari, bringing up her scythe in long practiced fashion. "EVA-03 was infected by something and we have to stop it…with Touji inside."
It was perhaps fortunate that the video link to EVA-00 had been disabled by the pilot, otherwise, Shinji might have been tempted to attack the blue EVA on seeing an expectant smirk spread over the silver-haired boy's face.
'Yes, so Bardiel has come, exactly as predicted…with a host prepared by the hands of man…I suppose I will have to act in this battle to avoid extra suspicion from the Third Child, as the plan has yet to reach the climax.'
"That's right," confirmed Shinji, suppressing his unease at having to fight against someone he considered a friend. "But if we don't fight, then everyone dies…so we have to. We've been training for this for weeks, and we can do this, right?"
"Ri—yahh!" Hikari shrieked, blurring into motion to counter the swift shadow plunging down on her, slashing up and around with her scythe, to flicking away the wayward EVA-03 with a mighty clang, as the battle was joined. "I'll hold him off…you get the entry plug, Shinji!"
"Roger," Shinji answered, shifting position as a positron rifle spat fire behind him, the particle beam lancing out at towards EVA-03's right shoulder binder, causing it to explode into a cloud of blood and metal on contact.
And then another rifle burst took down the left shoulder binder, and a most untrustworthy voice joined the conversation.
"Kaworu?" the Third Child barked out, demanding an explanation. 'Was he trying to shoot me in the back again, or did he have something else in—?'
"I have neutralized the internal weapon racks of the rogue EVA Unit to prevent it from attacking from range," reported the Fourth Child, wearing the enigmatic poker face he almost always wore when not smirking deviously. "EVA-00 standing by to prepare ranged support…continue as planned, Ikari Shinji-kun."
'The question is…do you trust me enough to save your friend?'
"AIIYE!"
Before he could answer, the light of a massive cross flare blasted forth from EVA-03 towards the crimson figure opposing it, with the blackened figure following up with arms reaching out to crush the head of EVA-02…only to slam into a hexagonal barrier of orange light.
"Is that all you've got, Angel?" Hikari snarled, uncertainty fading in the heat of battle, as scythe lashed out into the gut of EVA-03, followed by an armored boot to the head that sent the Angel flying. "You're not so tough!"
'And just when will it unveil its own AT Field? Now, or when the others come into range?'
Tracking the flying EVA through the air was Unit-01, charging forward to intercept it at the landing zone when—
BLAM! BLAM!
Twin bursts of azure light shot from the muzzle of the Cyclopian EVA-00's positron rifle, blowing off one of the infected EVA's arms, then the other, sending the Angel sprawling as it crashed into a building, reducing it to rubble. A writhing, bubbling mass issued from the torso, as it started to regenerate—but then the purple EVA-01 was upon the infected one, flipping it over to examine the entry plug area.
'Its…there's some kind of webbing pro—gah!'
Clang!
A blur from the corner of vision, as a regenerated arm smashed into his EVA's temple, with another grabbing the one of EVA-01's armored hand and wrenching it hard enough to break the bones within, causing the Third Child to groan in agony, gritting his teeth as his rage built. In an effort to break free, Shinji slashed down with his uninjured weapon arm, only for the grinning EVA-Angel Bardiel to lunge upwards, seizing that arm with its teeth and wrenching it out of the purple test-type EVA, following up by ripping the power cord from its socket.
Limb loss, of course, was one of the things that was normally not simulated in The World, as until one lost all HP and suffered a critical existence failure, one could continue to fight at full capacity (unless of course, one was afflicted with Doll Syndrome and lost the use of a limb in both worlds or worse, but that was a different thing altogether). Unfortunately, when piloting EVAs, it was an unfortunate reality, as Shinji was discovering for the first time.
To add insult to injury, a strange liquid spurted out from the freshly reformed limbs of EVA-03 with a hiss, insinuating itself into EVA-01's arms in an attempt to invade and take over yet another EVA for the Angel arsenal.
BLAM! BLAM!
Another bloodcurdling scream, as Kaworu rendered the infection attempt in vain in his own unique way: searing off the limbs with positron rifle blasts. Granted, Shinji experienced a great deal of pain, but he would have done so whether the indelicate procedure was ordered from headquarters or from here.
Back on the command bridge, the staff of NERV cringed on hearing the blood curdling howl that tore free of Shinji's throat, followed by a crash that shook the city as EVA-01 collapsed to the ground, falling silent.
'No…I can't have failed…can I?'
Horrified, Hikari charged in, her scythe cleaving air, AT Field before her as an absolute protection—only to have her defensive barrier be neutralized by an AT Field generated by a maniacally grinning EVA-03, whose arms warped into deadly tri-edged blades, one sweeping up to block the quick falling scythe, the other blurring at full speed to decapitate the hapless EVA-02 with a spray of high-pressure blood, triggering the failsafes built into EVA to shut down the nerve interface system to protect the pilot within.
"No…no….NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"was the bellow ripped from the Third Child's lungs, just as EVA-01's eyes shone a brilliant white and the jaw restraints snapped, with a collective whisper:
"Berserker…"
But this time, unlike most of the other times EVA had gone berserk, Shinji's fury was in perfect sync with his biomechanical war mech's, a snarling, seething mass of anger that had loosed the binds of reason.
'No more no more no more NO MORE!!!!!!!!'
With a howl, man and machine charged, leaping high into the air and jump-kicking the rogue EVA as Unit 01's AT field finally flickered into existence, smashing the matte-black monstrosity backwards with brute strength.
In retaliation, Bardiel unleashed its own AT Field (its earlier field was but that of EVA-03's), neutralizing the light of the soul of the Third Child's war mech, its strange infected blade arms shooting out to decapitate this troublesome enemy as well—to be met with blades of terrible molten light issuing from EVA-01's arm stumps.
"But that's…impossible…" muttered Makoto Hyuga, up on the bridge. "It's like the EVA itself is an…"
The word Angel, on the minds and lips of all present, was rather left unspoken, as the Third Child blocked and parried the arms of the Thirteenth Angel with the energy lances being generated by his EVA's own divine rage, slicing at its gut, its throat, its crotch, tossing it up in the air and goring it in the chest with his horn.
Three shots rang out, EVA-00 launching triune bolts of light from its weapon towards the airborne enemy, burning away enough mass in the sniper's triangle that the entry plug simply fell from the Angel-ridden mech onto the asphalt below. Moving more quickly than one might expect, the cyclopean EVA-00 dived in, scooping up the entry plug and retreating with all speed, as if he had foreknowledge that something terrible would soon transpire.
"EVA-03 has reversed its AT Field! Mode D activated! It has enabled self-destruct protocols!"
Something like that, with mass panic ensuing as the matte-black biomech grabbed onto EVA-01, holding tightly as a limpet mine in spite of the purple mech's attempts to buck free.
"The core is collapsing, passing through the critical point!"
Then the Unit vanished in a massive sphere of destruction, a wave of plasma blooming out across the land, erupting in a runaway cascade reaction that built upon itself over and over and over, searing, rending, blighting, cleansing all of the surrounding area and almost everything in it.
Screams, echoing screams, a million voices crying out.
Then silence, as the light of a thousand suns blossomed in the sky.
"E-Eva Unit 03…no...the target has been completely silenced…" reported a small and very shaken voice from headquarters. "EVA Unit-00 has escaped the blast, but EVA-01 and EVA-02…"
Silence.
"…we have life signs from the pilots," Maya whispered, horrified at how the battle had turned out. "The Third and Fifth Children are in extremely critical condition…"
"Dispatch a medical team, hurry!"
Outer Dungeon
Many hours later, after the inevitable debriefing at NERV, and the admission of the Third, Fifth, and Sixth Children to NERV Medical, a certain grey-haired youth entered the corroded world of the Outer Dungeons once again, a confident and all-knowing plastered across his elegant features as he hummed the melody of Ode to Joy.
He looked around for a moment to be sure that the meddling west wind wasn't there, and seeing neither hide nor hair of the saffron haired girl, stretched out his mind to that of his fallen AIDA servant, who he had forged into a vessel for another power.
A discordant tone sounded, with a virulently warped Tribal Grappler appearing in the Outer Dungeon beside him, growling questioningly, his form enshrouded by strands of light and darkness both.
"Yes, that's right…arise, AIDA-Angel Bardiel!" he purred with satisfaction. "Go forth and destroy the troubling place called Net Slum Tartarga…"
'How pleasant…everything is proceeding exactly as I have foreseen…'